School system computers slammed

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

A computer virus launched worldwide to take advantage of a security flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 2000 and XP software systems infected the Fayette County School System’s network last week in a bad way, but repairs were expected to be complete and all electronic communication restored by Friday.

The attack by the virus, anticipated by Microsoft users worldwide, was especially cruel to local schools, crashing the e-mail system and shutting down the central Web site.

Ed Steil, recently named director of the Lafayette Educational Center and acting technology director, said each of the 29 schools in the county had to be brought back online one by one as the virus was tracked down and electronic security “patches” installed.

The time-consuming task required a technician to manually install the software patch onto the hard drive of every computer.

The school system maintains more than 1,400 computers in its network.

Steil said Microsoft distributed the security patch last week, but it wasn’t soon enough to keep the virus from penetrating the firewall of the school system’s main servers and opening the door to all kinds of unwanted transmissions.

On a normal day, the school district processes about 22,000 legitimate communications, Steil said. One day last week, more than 1 million files managed to slip through the firewall, effectively overwhelming the network and shutting it down.

E-mail is more than a matter of convenience for students, since many teachers post homework assignments online and use the World Wide Web to quickly and frequently keep in touch with parents.

“It’s certainly one of the most useful means of communication we have,” said Steil.

Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, public information specialist for the school district, said this virus was just another in a series of hits the system’s computer network has taken recently. And it affected every office at every level, she said on Wednesday, when Superintendent John DeCotis and his staff were closing in on day four of making do without the aid of modern technology.

How did they manage?

“We’re using the phones,” said Berry-Dreisbach.