River Delta Unified School District data breach: ransomware gang claims responsibility

River Delta Unified School District this week sent data breach notices to victims of a cyber attack that took place in December 2023.

Ransomware group Meow claimed responsibility for the attack in February 2024. River Delta has not confirmed Meow attacked it.

River Delta has not publicly disclosed the number of people affected or what personal information was compromised, but California law requires organizations notify the state Attorney General when a data breach affects more than 500 residents, as was the case here. The data could belong to school students, staff, or both.

River Delta is offering free credit monitoring to eligible victims via Equifax, however, the notice states, “You must be over age 18 with a credit file to take advantage of the product.” That might not apply to K-12 students.

We don’t yet know how much ransom Meow demanded, if River Delta paid it, or how attackers breached River Delta’s network. Comparitech contacted River Delta for comment and will update this article if it responds.

Who is Meow?

First identified in 2022, Meow’s ransomware builds upon Conti, an older strain. Meow steals data and holds it for ransom, but it might not encrypt files. Data theft and extortion without encryption is an increasingly popular trend among ransomware gangs.

According to our data, Meow has claimed eight confirmed ransomware attacks since it began operating, all on targets in the US. It claimed another 88 attacks that haven’t been acknowledged by victims.

In the same month that it claims to have attacked River Delta, Meow also took responsibility for a data breach at Tulane University.

Meow often demands relatively small ransoms compared to its peers. One recent attack on finance company CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services came with a $7,000 ransom demand. Bigger targets do bring bigger demands, though. Meow demanded $500,000 after claiming an attack on the city of Miami Gardens in June 2024.

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. Ransomware attacks are often two-pronged: they lock down systems and steal data. In Meow’s case, it’s most likely just the latter.

Comparitech researchers logged 36 confirmed and 53 unconfirmed ransomware attacks on US education so far in 2024. The average ransom demand for these attacks is $800,000.

Ransom payments can be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of downtime: $500,000 per day on average according to our study.

In 2023, we recorded 122 confirmed ransomware attacks on the US education sector, affecting 2,672,815 individual records.

About River Delta Unified School District

Spanning three counties along the Sacramento River in California, River Delta Unified School District enrolls 1,863 students across 11 K-12 schools and one adult education school.