'Foreign Nations Such As Russia, Ukraine, China & Iraq' May Be Involved In Cyberattacks On Miami-Dade County Public Schools
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Hours after a 16-year-old Miami boy was arrested on Thursday morning in connection to a series of cyberattacks on the Miami-Dade County Public Schools data center, which overwhelmed its networks including web-based systems needed for My School Online, it was revealed investigators believe other cyberattacks came from foreign nations.
"There are other attacks from foreign nations such as Russia, Ukraine, China and Iraq and possibly others," said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho at a Thursday afternoon news conference. "That does not mean however, that individuals in those nations are necessarily launching the cyberattacks." He explained people can purchase these highly disruptive services via the dark web.
Meanwhile, it was revealed David Oliveros, a student at South Miami Senior High, was the teen arrested. He's a junior who is accused of eight cyberattacks against the District. In all there were more than two dozen.
"It takes no joy announcing the early morning arrest of a 16-year-old student," said Carvalho.
Miami-Dade Schools Police say he confessed when detectives went to his home early in the morning, confiscating his computer and gaming system for forensic analysis.
Detectives were able to trace an IP address responsible for the attacks back to Oliveros, according to a police incident report.
WATCH: Miami-Dade County Schools officials provide update on cyberattacks arrest:
According to the police report, Oliveros admitted to using an online application to attack the M-DCPS computer network.
Oliveros is charged with Computer Use in an Attempt to Defraud - a 3rd degree felony, and Interference with an Educational Institution - a 2nd degree misdemeanor.
He is now in custody at the Juvenile Assessment Center.
Meantime, the virtual learning platform was better Thursday then the first three days of school this week.
"Where we stand today is in a far better place than we were yesterday and I expect continuous improvements made going into tomorrow," Carvalho said.
For now, kindergarten through 5th grade will remain on the K12 platform, while all middle and high school students went back to Zoom and Microsoft Teams until September 11. That's is when the District will decide what to do next.
"While we have confidence that that platform can be reinitiated without the systemic problems that we identified, or if we abandon it altogether and continue to utilize the district approved, Zoom through Microsoft Teams platform access, we hope that the experience tomorrow will be even better than today's experience," said Carvalho.
K12 released a statement saying, "We've experienced some intermittent technical issues which we are working to resolve as quickly as possible." A spokesperson went on to say "We are working with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to strengthen the system to allow for a smooth transition onto the K12 platform."
The cyberattacks were not a hack, so no personal information from students or teachers was stolen.
For parents and students needing help logging in, the district has set up a help line at (305) 995-HELP (4537) of they can get help online.
