Cyber attack on Greater Lawrence Technical School claimed by ransomware gang

Ransomware gang Abyss yesterday claimed responsibility for a data breach at Greater Lawrence Technical School in Andover, Massachusetts. The group says it stole 1.1 TB of data and is demanding the school pay a ransom by December 2, 2024.

Greater Lawrence Technical School announced a “network outage” on November 11, 2024 that forced it to cancel classes, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The school’s PA system, bell system, phone lines, and emergency communications were down as a result of the attack. Classes resumed on November 18, 2024.

“Due to a network outage, which includes our school’s phone service, school has been canceled for tomorrow, Tuesday, November 12th. The building will be closed for the day, and there will be no athletics or extracurricular activities,” the school announced in a November 11 Facebook post.

Greater Lawrence has not verified Abyss’ claim. We do not yet know if personal data was stolen, how many people might be affected, whether the school paid a ransom, how much Abyss demanded, or how attackers breached the school’s network. Comparitech contacted Greater Lawrence for comment and will update this article if it responds.

Who is Abyss?

Abyss Locker first emerged in March 2023 and primarily targets VMware ESXi environments. It often extorts victims twice: once to restore encrypted systems, and again in exchange for not selling or publicly releasing stolen data. Abyss’ victims span the healthcare, manufacturing, and education sectors.

In 2024 so far, we tracked 10 confirmed ransomware attacks claimed by Abyss, plus 27 unconfirmed claims that targets didn’t acknowledge.

Abyss’ other recent victims include the Australian Nursing Home Foundation in October and Landmark Admin in May 2024. The latter was Abyss’ largest breach to date, compromising nearly 807,000 records.

Ransomware attacks on US education

Ransomware attacks on schools and other education facilities can disrupt day-to-day operations such as taking attendance, submitting grades, phone and email communications, billing, payroll, and assignments. Many schools cancel classes in the wake or ransomware attacks. Ransomware attacks are often two-pronged: they lock down systems and steal data. Attackers demand schools pay ransoms to restore systems and delete the stolen data.

So far in 2024, we logged 57 confirmed ransomware attacks on US schools, universities, and other educational institutions. These attacks compromised more than 300,000 records, and the average ransom is $460,000.

Last month saw ransomware attacks on Winnebago Public Schools (NE), Marysville Schools (OH), Bartow County School System (GA), and Interboro School District (PA).

About Greater Lawrence Technical School

Greater Lawrence Technical School is a regional technical and vocational high school in Massachusetts. It serves the Andover, Lawrence, Methuen, and North Andover communities. GLTS enrolls about 1,800 students, according to external sources.