School Board OKs beefing up cyber insurance coverage
On its face, the email looked legitimate. The address was correct but the message was alarming. Why would Glencoe-Silver Lake Superintendent Chris Sonju want district staff to immediately cut a check for thousands of dollars to someone the school district had never done business with?
Questioning the email’s legitimacy, a staff member brought the email to Michelle Sander, the district’s business manager. She immediately recognized it as a phishing scheme, a fraudulent attempt to steal money. Sander knew someone had obtained Sonju’s email address and used it nefariously.
What the people behind the phishing scheme didn’t know is the school district has processes preventing the immediate and unexplained expenditure of taxpayer funds. Sander said the check would never have been written without a series of approvals.
(For the complete story, see the Oct. 17 print edition of The Chronicle.)