York Region school board target of 'cyber incident,' police investigating
Police are investigating a ‘cyber incident’ that took York Region District School Board’s network offline earlier this week.
YRDSB confirmed the Nov. 8 breach in a statement published to X on Friday afternoon.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
“The board is working with third party experts, including legal and technical, to analyze the extent of the incident and begin work to restore services,” the statement read in part.
A notice posted to the YRDSB website shows that its Wi-Fi, email, and phone systems are all currently down.
The board said it took “mitigating action” as soon as the breach was detected, but it’s unclear what data, if any, was affected or compromised.
Phone lines for safe arrivals and emergencies are still working, according to the YRDSB website, although response times may be delayed.
The source of the apparent cyberattack is unclear at this time, but the board said police are investigating.
York Region District School Board. (Mike Arsalides/CTV News)
YRDSB’s breach is the fourth cybersecurity incident in the last several weeks to affect a public-facing Ontario institution.
Officials at Toronto's Michael Garron Hospital said Wednesday that the personal information of employees and clinicians was stolen during an October cyberattack.
Before that, on Oct. 23, hackers targeted a number of hospitals and health-care institutions in southwestern Ontario and have since published some of that data to the dark web.
Two days earlier, a ransomware attack at the Toronto Public Library caused a 10-day outage. On Friday, the library said sensitive data caught up in that breach “may have been exposed.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
WATCH LIVE Police arrest Toronto woman in connection with three recent homicides
Police have arrested a Toronto woman in connection with three recent homicides and investigators say that they believe two of the victims may have been 'randomly targeted.'
NDP house leader says House dysfunction will be a factor in future confidence votes
NDP House leader Peter Julian says there's more his party wants to do in Parliament before the next election, but if the current dysfunction continues it will become a factor in how they vote on a confidence measure.
Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years for voting data scheme
A judge ripped into a Colorado county clerk for her crimes and lies before sentencing her Thursday to nine years behind bars for a data-breach scheme spawned from the rampant false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
Youth pleads guilty to manslaughter in death of P.E.I. teen Tyson MacDonald
A teen charged with the murder of another teen on Prince Edward Island last year has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
BREAKING Jury begins deliberations in Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial
The jury tasked with determining if Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard sexually assaulted a young woman in northeastern Ontario eight years ago began deliberating Friday after nearly two weeks of testimony that saw the singer and his accuser give starkly different accounts of what happened.
BREAKING Here's what the jury didn't hear in Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial
A northeastern Ontario jury has started deliberating in Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial, we can now tell you what they weren't allowed to hear.
Canadian family stuck in Lebanon anxiously awaits flight options amid Israeli strikes
A Canadian man who is trapped in Lebanon with his family says they are anxiously waiting for seats on a flight out of the country, as a barrage of Israeli airstrikes continues.
Yazidi woman captured by ISIS rescued in Gaza after more than a decade in captivity
A 21-year-old Yazidi woman has been rescued from Gaza where she had been held captive by Hamas for years after being trafficked by ISIS.
Airlines' challenge of Canada's passenger protection rules rejected by Supreme Court
Canada's airlines have failed in their challenge of air passenger protection rules that the federal government implemented in 2019.