AT&T - WKTV Journal

More districts are having to enroll in cyberattack protection as incident numbers rise.

By Erin Albanese

The Godfrey-Lee Public School District battled a continuous malicious cyberattack beginning in September that sometimes left staff members with no access to student emergency and medical information.

The Wyoming Police Department and Michigan State Police are investigating the cyber attack. The district is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the criminal activity.

The entire district internet system was shut down nearly every school day. Attackers did this by jamming the AT&T router with traffic to the point it would shut down.

“It all seemed to be tied to school hours, not always starting the same time of day, but it always would end just as kids were getting out of school,” Superintendent David Britten said. “(AT&T) wouldn’t give us any information at all on where (the traffic) was coming from.”

To fix the problem, AT&T required Godfrey-Lee purchase the protection service.

Teresa Mask, senior public relations manager for AT&T Michigan, declined comment.

While the attacks had stopped as of early December, the district has locked into a three-year contract for a protection service with AT&T, costing $87,000 over three years.

Daniel Townsend, district director of technology and media services, said the cost for AT&T’s protection service is approximately $49,000 for 12 months. That includes a one-time $30,000 fee for an emergency setup. The cost for the remaining two years in the three-year contract is $19,000 a year. The Board of Education approved a $60,000 budget addition for this fiscal year to cover the cost — about the cost of a teacher, Britten said.

The district’s technology team first tried to use an out-of-state company to fix the problem, but that didn’t work because AT&T has control of the infrastructure. The out-of-state company did have another solution, but “it would have been a very complex process involving a lot of man-hours, so we chose to use AT&T since they own the infrastructure and could expedite the process,” Townsend said.

Godfrey-Lee Public Schools is the poorest district in Kent County. Ninety-five percent of students receive free or reduced-cost lunch.

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

By: Mike DeWitt

It only takes one second, one glance down at your phone, to completely change a life. As technology and social networks continually innovate the way we communicate, they constantly vie for our attention throughout the day. Even when driving a car, a metal box hurling down the freeway at deadly speeds, it can be tempting to stay engaged to our social circles around us.

Back in 2010, AT&T created the It Can Wait campaign: a strong and simple message to put down your cell phone while driving. Now, in response to a recent findings on distracted driving, AT&T has shifted their campaign to reach U.S. Hispanics – Puede Esperar.

Puede Esperar is a direct response to new research that found 83 percent of Hispanics admitting to using their smartphone behind the wheel. That number is higher than an already staggering 71 percent of Americans as a whole that admit to distracted driving. Of that 83 percent, half admit to using their smartphone to social network while driving, more than a quarter (28%) take selfies or photos, and nearly 70 percent send texts messages.

The Puede Esperar campaign focuses on education and practical tools to help combat distracted driving. The campaign includes:

• The AT&T DriveMode app is now available in Spanish and open to all carriers. The app helps curb the urge to text and drive by silencing incoming text messages once the car reaches 15 MPH.

• A 360-degree video experience that simulates the potentially deadly consequences of glancing at your phone while driving. The video can be viewed on your smartphone.

• A coast-to-coast virtual reality tour visiting local high schools and community events in more than a dozen cities by year-end.

• A website to help share information and resources.

While the most recent campaign focuses on reaching the Hispanic population, it’s a problem that everyone needs to address.

“Now more than ever we need to focus on those who put themselves at high risk behind the wheel,” said Sandra Howard of AT&T. “We want them to know the dangers and take the pledge. Ultimately, we want them to keep their eyes on the road, not on their phones.”

Since the original campaign launched in 2010, It Can Wait has helped grow awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, inspired more than 8 million pledges to keep their eyes off their phones and on the road, and collaborated with AT&T data scientists on research that shows the impact statewide anti-texting laws have on the rates of texting while driving.

Remember, that text, snapchat, photo, tweet, and instagram post isn’t worth a life. Put away your cell phones and focus on the road ahead.