LAUSD classes resume as district recovers from cyberattack that triggered system shutdown

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles Unified classes resumed Tuesday as the district continued to recover from and investigate a cyberattack that hit its systems over the weekend.

District officials said the ransomware attack was first detected by a staff member Saturday night.

As they scrambled to diagnose the nature of the attack, systems were shut down as a precaution. The LAPD was contacted and later federal agencies got involved, including the FBI and Homeland Security. Officials spent the next 48 hours or so working to investigate and respond.

Users - including parents and students - were locked out of accessing the system. The district didn't officially notify the community until late Monday night, although users had been reporting access problems for a day or two before then.

Many students and teachers reported continued difficulty accessing the system on Tuesday, but officials said that was simply due to the heavy volume of people logging on at the same time and being required to reset their passwords.

"Hundreds of thousands of individuals simultaneously attempting to reset their passwords - there is some delay," said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

Officials said the system that was attacked related to district facilities and much of the information available there is considered public. At this point, there is no evidence of Social Security numbers or similar personal information being compromised.

Cybersecurity experts say if any sensitive data was in fact accessed, it could be sold on the dark web.