FBI officials say hacking of Brownsburg school website not credible threat, did not target school
FBI says hacker known for spreading propaganda
Posted: 09/13/2012
Last Updated:
278 days ago
BROWNSBURG, Ind. -
FBI officials said the hacking of Brownsburg Community Schools Corporation's website Wednesday night was not a credible threat.
A press conference was held Thursday evening about the incident, which happened about 11 p.m. Wednesday.
Officials said they've traced the hacker to Iraq and he is an individual who is well-known for spreading propaganda around the world.
Brownsburg police said the hacker did not get ahold of any sensitive information.
"The main page of the Brownsburg Community School Corporation was hacked; however, the system itself was not," said Jennifer Barrett, with Brownsburg police.
Officials also said that Brownsburg was not specifically targeted, but instead that the software the school district uses for its website was the target.
School leaders said attendance was down Thursday by 2 percent to 3 percent more than usual, but some parents said they felt sure that school would be safe.
"I'm confident that they've got it secured," said Kelly Winkel, whose 5-year-old is a kindergartner at Brown Elementary. "I don't think they'd say come to school with them knowing a hundred percent that everybody will be safe."
School officials confirmed Winkel's thought.
"We would not ever have students at school if it wasn't safe," said Superintendent Jim Snapp. "We continue to know that our students are safe today, tomorrow and in the future as well."
The hacked website had Arabic writing on it and mentioned an anti-Islam movie -- the same movie that's being blamed for protests and violence in the Middle East.
The hacked site was live for about 30 minutes before school officials noticed and took it down.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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