High Schooler Hits Entire School District With Week-Long Cyberattack

Teenagers regularly make poor decisions when it comes to technology, and too many of them in recent times involve swatting pranks. This latest episode of poor teenage judgement comes in the form of an alleged cyberattack, however, and now that high school student is facing a possible felony charge, according to KTVB. The unnamed 17-year-old is said to have instituted a DDoS attack against the West Ada school district in Idaho — it's the largest school district in the state, and for one miserable week students and faculty across dozens of schools suffered because of it.

The alleged perpetrator is said to be a student at Eagle High School in the district, which is seeking to have him expelled. Earlier on this month, the student is said to have hit the district's school network with a DDoS attack, bringing the ability to get online to a virtual stop. Students are said to have been forced to take achievement tests multiple times after losing their work; payroll for faculty was affected, and other Internet-centric woes.

It took a week and a half for the attack to come to an end, which happened when investigators were finally able to trace it back to the unnamed student. The sheriff's office is reporting that the student paid a third-party to perform the DDOS attack. The reasons for doing so aren't known at this point.

The school district that was affected is comprised of 52 schools, and because of the student's action he will probably be hit with a felony and possible charges on the federal level, and his family will be burdened with financial restitution to the school district.

SOURCE: KTVB