‘Cyber incident’ continues to disrupt computer networks at some Sudbury-area schools

The largest English public school board in northeastern Ontario is continuing to deal with a disruption to its computer network -- including no internet access.

The Rainbow District School Board (RDSB) continues to experience a disruption in its computer network due to a cyber incident.

“Technical issues” which emerged Friday morning with the board’s computer network as a result of a “cyber incident” caused officials to shut down all computer systems at about 10 a.m. on Feb. 7 “in an abundance of caution,” RDSB said in statements issued Friday.

The outage is affecting the board’s Centre for Education and all schools in Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin Island.

There is no internet access at this time, according to a RDSB update provided at noon on Sunday, therefore there will be no access to email, voice mail, Google drives or a variety other applications that schools use on a day-to-day basis.

“We will advise everyone when Google applications, including email, will resume,” RDSB wrote in its update.

Board officials said Sunday that schools will remain open and all classes and programs will continue.

“Attendance will be taken,” said RDSB spokesperson Nicole Charette.

“Parents will be able to call schools to report absences (and) schools will be able to call home for the Safe Arrival program.”

The board said its information services staff continue to work with third-party experts to assess the impact of the cyber incident.

“Please continue to visit rainbowschools.ca for updates,” concludes the update.