Pembina Trails students, teachers still struggling more than 2 weeks after cyberattack shut down network

Students and teachers in the Pembina Trails School Division are still in the dark as to when full services for everything from computers to clocks will be restored, more than two weeks after a cyberattack shut down the Winnipeg school division's entire network.

The outage took down several systems in the southwest Winnipeg division's 36 schools, including phones, computers, printers and even the clocks.

The attack was discovered after "unusual activity" in the division's network system, resulting in phone and computer outages, on the morning of Dec. 2. 

On Thursday, the division said in an online statement that a database with personal information of former and current students — including health identification numbers, parents or guardians' contact information and most recent photos — was accessed in the days leading up to Dec. 2.

Another database, with staff information such as banking details, social insurance numbers and compensation details, may also have been accessed in the attack, the division said.

A cybersecurity firm is continuing to investigate and work on restoring their systems, the division's superintendent said in a memo obtained by CBC.

But staff and students in the division say many services they rely on are still not working.

"The vast majority of buildings across the division, there's no internet whatsoever," said one teacher, severely limiting their ability to educate students.

"We're, I would say, pretty reliant on the internet to help us with our planning and with our teaching," said the teacher, whom CBC News is not naming because he fears speaking out will impact his job.

He said teachers have lost access to their email, the platform they use to assess students, their lesson plans and other files, some of which he fears may not be recoverable.

"We haven't been able to print anything to provide the students with any sort of lessons.… We haven't been able to use our projectors," he said. 

"It's really been pencil and paper. And we haven't been able to photocopy either.… Everything that you would normally use in the classroom has been kneecapped."

Staff have had to figure out workarounds, like connecting to the internet by tethering to their cellphones, at their own expense, the teacher said.

Sabastian Kelly, a Grade 10 student who goes to Shaftesbury High, said some of his teachers have had to print out their lessons at home.