"Cyber attack" derails literacy test trial
Local public and Catholic high schools were among many across the province who did not administer the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test as planned in an online trial on Oct. 20.
“The EQAO web platform experienced technical difficulties prior to the beginning of the school day and continued well into the morning, preventing students from logging in to complete the test,” Upper Grand District School Board spokesperson Heather Loney said in an email to the Advertiser.
“This affected school boards across the province. As a result, a decision was made to cancel the test.”
Loney said the Upper Grand is not anticipating a future date to conduct the trial.
On Oct. 24 EQAO officials announced in a press release the trial failed due to “an intentional, malicious and sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack - a type of cyber attack.”
The source of the cyber attack is not yet known, but “an independent third-party forensic firm is involved in an investigation .... on behalf of EQAO,” the press release states.
“EQAO shares the disappointment experienced by thousands of students, families and educators across the province,” officials stated in the press release.
“The agency recognizes the considerable time and energy spent, by all stakeholders, preparing for the trial assessment, and it sincerely apologizes for the considerable inconvenience that resulted.”
The literacy test will be administered on March 30 for eligible Grade 10 students. They will be able to take it online or in the traditional format.
