Tyngsboro Schools Believe Internet Outage Is Result Of Cyberattack

TYNGSBORO (CBS) - A cyberattack at Tyngsboro Middle and High School cut remote learning to hundreds of students this week. The incident caused internet outages at the Norris Road campus where both schools are located.

"Everything is online so we couldn't do anything so they just told us to stay home," Tyngsboro high school senior Bella Verheyen said.

Middle and high school students learned remotely on Friday after spotty internet throughout the school interrupted classes all week. Students are learning in a hybrid model four days a week - using technology for nearly all of their classwork.

"I haven't used a pencil and paper in so long, the first couple days that it happened like nobody knew what to do," Bella said. "We were just sitting in classrooms like waiting for something."

On Friday, the district announced the internet outage wasn't because of spotty service, but a cyberattack. Experts believe someone brought a device into school each day that disabled the internet for both schools.

The school is working with an IT company and police to figure out what happened. It is unclear if the internet interruption was intentional or caused by a compromised device without the owner's knowledge.

In a statement, the superintendent said, "While we are confident that we will soon rectify the situation, I am upset for the difficulty and disruption this has caused our students, family, and staff."

"We are just like trying to figure out who would kind of do that," said senior Kaitlyn Williams. "Like it's our senior year and we kind of want to make the best of the year and everything and someone bringing that into our school here, it's kind of upsetting."

Students learned remotely Friday and since Monday is a school holiday, the district is hopeful it can get the internet back up and running without another attack by Tuesday.

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