LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The company that operates Jefferson County Public Schools’ online grade portal was the target of a hacking scheme that is preventing parents, teachers and students from using the system.
Infinite Campus is an online system where parents and students can monitor student activity such as grades and attendance. It is also the primary method for JCPS teachers to input such information.
“We started experiencing problems logging in a few weeks ago,” said Jefferson County Teachers Association Vice President Tammy Berlin, who teaches arts and humanities at Atherton High School. “A couple of days in a row we had trouble even getting on to take attendance.”
According to a recording on the JCPS technology support line, the issue is being caused by a “denial of service attack” on Infinite Campus.
“Infinite Campus is experiencing slowness,” the recording said Thursday afternoon. “The company is having a denial of service attack, so you could experience slowness from time to time.”
The message was deleted after several WDRB News inquiries about the issue Thursday.
However, an email sent to parents Thursday afternoon explained the reason for the problem was that Infinite Campus had “upgraded its security measures to create an additional level of protection and further safeguard student data.” The email does not mention the attack but says no private student data or information was compromised.
A denial of service attack works by essentially flooding a network so that regular users can’t access the system.
“We are relaying information to parents as we learn it,” JCPS Spokeswoman Renee Murphy said.
According to Infinite Campus’ website, the system serves school districts in 45 states and more than 7 million students. School districts in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Texas are experiencing similar issues with the system.
“Many districts across the country are impacted and authorities are investigating,” according to a press release from Oklahoma City Public Schools.
Infinite Campus did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.
“Parents are frustrated, because they want to be able to get on to check their kids' grades,” Berlin said. “Students are frustrated, because they want to check their grades. Teachers are frustrated, because we can't enter grades.”
No timetable was given on when the issues might be fixed.
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