Cyber Incident - Final Update

We are writing to share with you the conclusion of our investigation into the cyber security incident that occurred on November 25, 2022, which impacted the DDSB network, along with school and business operations for a short period of time.  

Following a thorough third-party forensic investigation into the cyber incident, we can share with you that there is no evidence that student or employee personal information or data was accessed or stolen. The threat actor(s) did deploy malware to encrypt personal and other information on our network.

When we initially discovered suspicious activities on the network, it was immediately taken offline for security, containment, and investigation. We engaged external IT consultants to assist with our response and implementation of additional security measures including multi-factor authentication and continual network and endpoint monitoring. The network and associated data were largely restored from backups and there has since been no evidence of further malicious activity or re-entry into the network. 

This cyber incident has highlighted the important role that technology plays in delivering learning for over 75,000 students and we are working on developing further contingency plans to support school and business operations should the network need to be taken offline in the future, even if just for a short amount of time. Although efforts were already underway prior to the cyber incident to strengthen the DDSB network, we are also working quickly to implement additional security measures to help prevent something like this from happening again.  

We would like to sincerely thank everyone for their support, patience, and understanding while the network was offline. We are extremely appreciative of the role that staff played in supporting one another and students by coming up with solutions and ideas to ensure that, for the vast majority of students, learning was not interrupted. We are also thankful for the role that parents/guardians and students played in working with school teams to ensure that school was able to continue. 

For those interested in understanding more about what happened, you can read this report on the cyber incident which is being provided to trustees for information at the upcoming March 6, 2023 Standing Committee Meeting.

Sincerely, 

Camille Williams-Taylor 
Director of Education 

David Wright
Associate Director, Corporate Services 

Jim Markovski
Associate Director, Equitable Education