June 9, 2025 Statement From Superintendent Dr. Akil E. Ross, Sr.
Dr. Akil E. Ross Sr., Lexington Richland School District Five School Superintendent, reported a cyber attack and disruption in the daily routing at D5 headquarters. In a statement to the school board on Monday, June 8, he explained the detection of and the steps taken to correct the threat.
Below is the message Dr. Ross shared with the school board.
Please be advised that School District Five of Lexington & Richland Counties Superintendent Dr. Akil E. Ross, Sr., shared the following message at tonight’s Board of Trustees Meeting:
To the Lexington-Richland Five Community,
On June 3, 2025, we detected unusual network activity that is impacting certain aspects of our operations. In response, we immediately took steps to secure our network. Our technology team has been working diligently with law enforcement and third-party specialists to investigate the full nature and scope of the incident and securely restore files and systems as expeditiously as possible. Unfortunately, the initial findings indicated that the district was a victim of actions by malicious actors outside of the district’s environment. We have deployed advance detection and threat software to detect and prevent any further issues.
While we are working diligently to restore files and systems as quickly as possible, the restoration process takes time, and it is possible that not all files will be restored.
As advised by our experts, school districts across the nation have been victimized by overseas extortion criminal groups. An April 14, 2025, publication by K12 Dive reported the level of education sector incidents has surged about 70% in the first quarter of 2025. Faced with this crisis, it is our district’s commitment to obtain a full forensic investigation to detect and prevent any future incidents.
If any sensitive data was impacted in this data security incident, the district will follow the expert forensic and legal recommendations to address this issue. At this time, we do not have sufficient evidence of a data breach. As the investigation progresses, we will keep this board and community informed of any concerns. At this time, we have no reason to believe that any sensitive data is being misused.
School District Five is committed to the protection of staff, student, and community data. Our technology staff and experts deployed reasonable security measures to prevent any data security incidents. We are continuing to evaluate this incident. Our finance, technology and human resources teams were able to operate in a secure network environment to ensure our June 15, 2025, payroll was completed and will be paid on time. I want to thank all the faculty and staff for their support and hard work to help School District Five be operational during this difficult time. We are following the recommended course of action for system protections during the entirety of this incident. We will provide updates as the investigation progresses.
The attack appears to have threatened some sensitive financial processes including retention bonuses but Dr. Ross reassured that the upcoming payroll would not be affected.
