ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Pinellas County Schools has confirmed that a student at one of its high schools disrupted the district's network, blocking access for days.
Between March 22 and 23, users across the district were unable to access the internet. A spokesperson for the school board says the network became vulnerable while the school system's online services were being migrated to a new platform in late 2020. The migration was being overseen by the internet service provider Charter-Spectrum.
Police records show that the 17-year-old behind the cyberattack was a student at St. Petersburg High School. The teenager is accused of distributing a denial of service attack which overloads a network's internet traffic, rendering it inaccessible for users.
The 17-year-old was charged with a third-degree felony for the incident, according to an arrest affidavit.
Pinellas County Schools says representatives of Charter-Spectrum explained that the company had "failed to maintain" the proper protection to prevent a DDoS attack during the migration.
The school district says no student or personnel information was accessed or in danger during the disruption.
Spectrum agreed to credit Pinellas County Schools $23,000 for the incident, a spokesperson for the school district says.
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