West Clermont Local Schools fell victim to costly social engineering attack

The West Clermont Local School District fell victim to an attack that is expected to cost more than $1 million, officials said.

In a news release Monday, the district said no personal information or student education records were compromised in the social engineering attack, however, officials anticipate a loss of $1.7 million as a result.

Officials said the attackers diverted electronic automated clearing house payments to bank accounts not owned by the district's vendors.

Once they learned of the attack in December, officials contacted local and federal authorities, as well as the Ohio Auditor, and submitted a claim with an insurance carrier to recover the lost funds, the release states.

Social engineering schemes typically involve a cybercriminal impersonating a trusted person or organization and persuading the victim to give away information such as passwords or account access, or installing malware.

Officials said they were unable to share information about the incident until now because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

IT staff have performed a scan of the district's computer networks and found no "malicious or unauthorized entry," officials said. Additional vendor authentication and payment protocols have since been implemented.

"Although this loss is painful and upsetting, this will not impact the recent announcement of extending any expected request for new operational money until 2026," the release states. "The District does not anticipate cutting any programs, services or employees."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: West Clermont schools victim to costly social engineering attack