Ransomware outage shuts Spring Lake Park schools

Spring Lake Park Schools abruptly canceled all classes, child care, community education and after‑school activities for Monday, April 13, after a suspected ransomware attack forced the district to shut down all of its technology systems. District officials say an "outside actor" accessed some school systems and that key platforms needed to safely operate school buildings are unavailable, prompting a full closure across the suburban metro district that serves parts of Anoka County and neighboring cities. The district has brought in third‑party cybersecurity experts and notified law enforcement, but has not said how the attacker got in, what data may be compromised, or how long the outage may last. Families have been told to expect further updates Monday as crews work to restore systems and determine the scope of the breach. For Twin Cities parents, it’s another reminder that increasingly digitized school operations are a single point of failure — when they go down, in‑person learning and child care can grind to a halt with almost no warning.