Fergie's Tech Blog

School Boards Hit With Cash-Stealing Trojan

Robert McMillan writes on PC World:

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a rash of reported online computer intrusions that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars being stolen from school districts in Illinois.

FBI investigators are working on a computer intrusion case at the Crystal Lake School District in Crystal Lake, Illinois, said Ross Rice, a spokesman with the FBI's Chicago office. But several other school districts also believe that they have been hit by the same malicious software, Rice said.

The FBI believes that the Clampi virus, already associated with a rash of banking thefts throughout the U.S., may be to blame, Rice said.

Rice declined to provide more information on the case because it is still under investigation, but local reports say that as much as US$350,000 may have been taken from the Crystal Lake District alone. The district's superintendent, Donn Mendoza, did not return a call seeking comment for this story.

Three Illinois school districts are thought to have been hit over the summer, but other school boards nationwide have been targeted by the scam.

posted by Fergie @ 9/28/2009 06:55:00 PM