Providence schools without internet as they deal with ‘unprecedented’ network outage
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island’s largest school district has been unable to access the internet for days following “irregular activity” detected on the network last week.
Providence Public School District spokesperson Jay Wegimont told Target 12 on Monday that the district had been in touch with local and federal law authorities as a result of the activity.
Both Providence Police and Mayor Brett Smiley said they were not contacted.
Smiley told Target 12 on Tuesday that the city’s infrastructure is separate from the school department’s, but the city did take precautions in response.
“There’s one connection on an accounting software that has been blocked to secure the city’s computers. There’s been no issues with the city’s IT infrastructure,” Smiley said. “We are fully functional and stand ready to help PPSD, but have not been asked for any of that help.”
Wegimont clarified what agencies were contacted when asked again on Tuesday.
“As is standard operating procedure, the district and their professional third-party IT agency contacted Rhode Island State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Homeland Security last Wednesday,” Wegimont said. “Please note that this was also done out of an abundance of caution and that the analysis is ongoing.”
A letter was sent to the Providence Public School community on Sept. 12 disclosing that district IT staff detected the activity last Wednesday and they “took immediate action to investigate and address it.”
But in a letter to the PPSD community on Monday morning, the district said “all internet-connected systems remain down,” during a period of what the district referred to as “unprecedented network issues.”
Monday’s letter said the IT staff was working “diligently to assess the network and determine the next steps for a swift resolution.”
In last week’s letter, the district disclosed that IT staff followed proper security protocols and had contained the issue. However, “out of an abundance of caution,” a third-party IT company was called to provide additional support, and the network was shut down.
The district said they then began a forensic review of the network.
PPSD Superintendent Dr. Javier Montañez sent an additional letter to the district on Monday.
“The analysis is currently underway to gather more information but initial findings did not show evidence that district data was compromised,” Montañez wrote.
Montañez also wrote that there is misinformation being spread about the situation, including that the district’s family communication platform, ParentSquare, had been compromised.
“This is a false and dangerous rumor that would negatively impact our ability to connect and communicate with families,” Montañez said. “ParentSquare is a cloud based system that is independent of the PPSD network and therefore was not impacted.”
The superintendent also explained that student and staff information systems are also separate from the district’s network.
“While we do not have an exact timeline as to when the network will be up and running, we assure you that we are doing everything possible and following proper protocol to expedite the process,” Montañez added.
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School officials said there was no evidence that any data was impacted, but that the district would provide updates moving forward and would work to ensure that interruptions to operations would be “minimally impacted.”
The letter said that staff from central administration had also been deployed to provide additional support at the school level, school security systems and protocols would remain active, and classes would proceed as scheduled.
In an effort to maintain “essential services” during the outage, the district said it secured portable Wi-Fi hotspots for school offices.
The district also provided a list of phone numbers to use for questions related to registration, special education, multilingual learners, pre-K, health services, transportation and more.
Alexandra Leslie ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.
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