Students at Camas High School in Washington State found their email accounts shut down in early August after a phishing scheme compromised several district accounts, reports Casey Leach in the school’s student newspaper.
On July 31, students received emails from staff addresses advertising an online job paying $300 a week. The messages linked to a Google Form that asked for personal and banking information.
Students who filled out the form later received texts promising a $500 check and instructions to buy office equipment for the job. The Camas School District’s technology department confirmed the messages were fraudulent and said the compromised accounts had been secured.
But on August 8, another phishing email was sent from the account of a Prune Hill Elementary staff member, prompting the district to disable student email access for about a week. Director of Operational Systems Sherman Davis told families the district acted quickly to contain the incident, reset accounts, and reinforce security measures.
District staff have faced phishing attempts before, but this marked the first time in recent years that student accounts were directly affected. Some families noted the district has not yet fully communicated details of the second wave of phishing emails or the email shutdown through normal channels.
