Leading Georgia art college hit by ransomware attack, personal data exposed

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) became a victim of a ransomware attack that leaked the sensitive information of hundreds of people.

SCAD is an acclaimed art school in the U.S. serving more than 15,000 students. The college was ranked the top art school in the U.S. last year by Art & Object and says it has students from 120 countries.

This weekend, the AvosLocker ransomware group added SCAD to its leak site, giving the school a two week deadline to pay an undisclosed ransom:

A spokesperson for the school told that it recently discovered a hacker had gained access to SCAD’s information networks.

The school hired third party cybersecurity experts who isolated the incident and launched an investigation. Law enforcement has been notified and is working with cybersecurity experts on the investigation:

Due to the university’s early detection and rapid response, the incident had no operational impact to the university. After a forensic investigation, SCAD has reason to believe that a limited number of files containing personal information of certain current and former students and employees were accessed by the unauthorized actor responsible for the incident.

The school said it has already notified all of the people who had information accessed during the attack and has provided them with ways they can protect themselves.