TOWSON, MD—Baltimore County Public Schools officials have issued a statement following this week’s release of the Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education report on the November 2020 cyberattack on BCPS.

The full statement from BCPS reads as follows:

“The OIGE report highlights BCPS’ extensive and immediate recovery efforts that have now positioned the system years ahead of other school systems across the state and nation in cyber defense. Superintendent Darryl Williams made notable efforts to address the technology infrastructure needs of the system prior to the cyberattack in his first proposed operating budget for the school system, however, those requests were not funded.

“Additionally, it is important to note the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) directed BCPS to refrain from sharing information regarding the attack during and after the investigation. BCPS already has implemented many of the recommendations of the OIGE report, and its recovery efforts have been cited nationally as the gold standard of prevention and defense.

“BCPS was a victim—just as scores of other school systems and governmental and health care institutions across the nation that have been the target of sophisticated cyberattacks on critical technical infrastructures—and the blame solely rests with the perpetrators who facilitated the attack.”

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