“Unfortunately, as expected, data was recently released by a criminal organization,” Carvalho said in a statement. “Working with law enforcement, our experts are analyzing the full extent of this data release.” The evidence was released on Saturday — two days ahead of a deadline the hackers had previously given — after Carvalho refused to pay a ransom to an international hacking syndicate. The group that claimed responsibility for the cyber attack had previously set a deadline of Monday for the district to pay the ransom to the organization. In a dark web post spotted and reposted by Brett Callow of cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, the hacker syndicate Vice Society listed LAUSD as one of “our partners” and said: “Works will be published by London time on October 4, 2022 at 12:00 am” The post gave no indication of what information had been obtained or what would be released. Carvalho previously acknowledged that the district received a ransom demand from the group responsible for the Labor Day weekend hack — which he declined to name. “We can acknowledge … that there was communication from this actor (hacker) and we responded without engaging in any kind of negotiations,” he told reporters. “With that said, we can acknowledge at this point … that a financial demand has been made by this entity. We have not responded to that demand.” He did not elaborate on the demand. Carvalho told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that the district would not pay the ransom demand or negotiate with the hackers. “What I can tell you is that a demand — any demand — would be absurd,” he told the Times. “But that level of demand was, frankly, offensive. And we’re not going to enter into negotiations with that type of entity.” A phone line will be available from Monday at 6:00 am “This hotline will help those in our school communities who may have questions or need additional support,” Carvalho said. The telephone number for the incident hotline is (855) 926-1129. Hours of operation will be 6:00 A.M. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding major US holidays. City News Service contributed to this report. Copyright © 2022 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
