Dear CASD Families and Staff,

The investigation of the August 27 cyber-attack on the Chambersburg Area School District technology systems has been completed by a third-party forensic team that conducted a legally privileged investigation and assisted us in restoring secure functionality to our affected systems. The school district was successful in defending ourselves against demands from the threat actors, but our investigation determined that certain personal data was taken before we discovered and contained this event.  Our ability to restore temporary, and then permanent access to our data files can be primarily credited to our CASD technology team implementing a detailed recovery plan, their pre-attack technology defenses, and solid data backup protocols.

During the first days of the cyber-attack, we notified our school insurance personnel and immediately began to strictly adhere to their expert guidance to ensure compliance with both legal and procedural requirements. The third-party vendors utilized by the district were highly skilled companies with a strong resume of working with school district cyber-attack issues. One vendor provided hands-on assistance with the restoration process to ensure it was conducted securely and efficiently as possible.  As part of this response and on a going-forward basis, we have deployed advanced endpoint detection and response tools on all systems across our entire network environment.

While many people were frustrated by the lack of information for public consumption, during all phases of the process we worked with our legal counsel and specialist vendors to obtain accurate and thorough information that would allow us to best inform our community.

In a few days, the groups of individuals whose personal data was potentially accessed by the threat actors will receive a letter specifically addressed to them. School district employees from 2008 to the current year and a very small group of students with individualized educational plans are those groups most likely affected. Contained in that letter will be instructions for credit monitoring and identity restoration services at no cost to the individuals involved. We are also encouraging everyone to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by regularly reviewing your account statements and monitoring your credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. A toll-free number will be available if you have additional questions.

On behalf of the Chambersburg Area School District, I would like to formally apologize for the disruption caused by this cyber-attack. We will continue to work on further strengthening our existing cyber security and technology systems. I also extend my sincere appreciation to the staff, at all levels, that assisted us tirelessly with making the best out of a most demanding crisis. Finally, thank you parents for your support and understanding.

Dr. Larry R. Redding
Acting Superintendent
Chambersburg Area School District