Louisiana’s COMPASS Teacher Eval System Still Down Following Statewide Cyberattack
On Monday, November 18, 2019, Louisiana’s state office computer systems experienced a cyberattack. As a precaution, the state shut down those systems, with the expectation that computers in some offices would be back in operation the same day, and others, within days.
However, as of this writing (Thursday evening), Louisiana’s teacher evaluation system, the Compass Information System (CIS), is still not in operation.
The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) website is up, as is the la.gov email system. On November 21, 2019, at 4:52 a.m., LDOE curriculum supervisor, Jackie Bobbett, was able to send the following email to Louisiana’s curriculum review team regarding the cyberattack:
Please be advised that the LDOE has been affected by the cyber attack that began Monday. We apologize for any delays in responses.We appreciate your patience during this time and will update you as we have more information.LDOE Academic Content Team
In a November 19, 2019, update, the governor’s office did say it might take “several days” to restore service, and the November 21, 2019, Shreveport Times reports that Louisiana’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is closed until Monday, November 25, 2019, and that according to Governor Edwards, “the ransomware attack was ‘largely unsuccessful’ because the state didn’t lose its data and didn’t pay a ransom.”
From the Office of the Governor, dated November 19, 2019:
“While it is nearly impossible to prevent all cyber attacks, because we have prioritized improving Louisiana’s cybersecurity capabilities, we were able to quickly neutralize the threat. The majority of the service interruption seen by employees and the public yesterday was due to our aggressive actions to combat the attack,” Commissioner of CONTINUE READING: Louisiana’s COMPASS Teacher Eval System Still Down Following Statewide Cyberattack | deutsch29