Hack Attack Makes Schools Go Crazy

The Palm Beach County School District spent approximately $1.5 million for security measures that are supposed to prevent data loss and the access of the unauthorized people inside the network. It all started from a security flaw occurred in 2006 when some students managed to break into the computers and modify some grades using a stolen employee password. At this time, the network's security is pretty impressive and you'll find in the next few lines that a simple hack attack can make somebody go crazy and turn into a real paranoiac. However, this is a good thing because the computer security system is supposed to prevent others from accessing our files so we would all need such a technology.

First of all, the security of the computers was well improved. In fact, it is so powerful that the district encouraged hackers to attack the services and, if their attacks are successful, they can win a free wireless router.

"We had people trying to hack in from China. Some days we got thousands of hits. The prize is still sitting in my office," Bob LaRocca, an IT security chief, told Palm Beach Post.

And according to the same source, the attacks keep coming. The network's security system records no less than 16,000 daily attacks while the employees receive approximately 80,000 spam messages every day! "Outside schools and district offices, hackers using devices attempt to capture the data that runs across the district's network to crack password files. Unlike a decade ago, people don't have to be computer geeks to become hackers. Online chat rooms and Web sites give step-by-step directions on how to hack, making it easier for students or anyone to tap into networks.," Palm Beach Post continued.

In addition to the security features, the employees are now required to change their passwords every 60 days although they didn't use to modify their credentials anytime before.