Miami-Dade’s online platform intended for remote learning has been a victim of numerous cyberattacks, causing the system to shut down, paralyzing online classes in the county.
Miami-Dade’s online platform hacked
The arrest of a 16-year-old in Miami has caused doubts on several concerns regarding the reliability of the Miami-Dade’s online platform for virtual learning. Many critics have doubts about how a 16-year-old can individually wreak havoc on a secured website which used for virtual learning in the whole Miami-Dade county. Is it a case of poor services by the company overseeing the virtual platform, Tech Company K12? Or is it just an excuse by education officials to cover-up the ineffectiveness of virtual learning, right on its first week of implementation?
Hacking is as easy as 1.. 2.. 3…
What alarms the public is that despite the simplicity of the cyber attack made by the 16-year-old, the security system of the virtual platform wasn’t able to fend off the attack. Admittedly, as stated on the police report, the teen used a downloadable program named “Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC)” to hack into the system, causing an overload of traffic that led to the shutdown.
According to cybersecurity expert Doug Levin, the program used by the 16-year-old is simple to understand and implement. However, for a district school server, it should have been able to retract such attacks and not resulted in a system shutdown.
This just shows how poorly, the concern for cybersecurity has been disregarded in schools. Even simple attacks that can be launched by any simple individual can instantly paralyze their system.
As for now, the teen has been sent back to his parents after being assessed by the Juvenile Assessment Center. He is scheduled to appear on a court hearing on October 8, 2020.
