CHESAPEAKE — The people responsible for hacking into Greenbrier Christian Academy’s website over the weekend has no ties to Islamic groups, according to school officials.
The FBI joined Virginia State Police in the investigation into the cyber attack.
The malware attack happened during an upload of information to the website, according to a press release from the school.
Superintendent Dr. Ron White told 13News Now the school became aware of the cyber attack Sunday morning.
The hacker left pro-islamic messages on the website, while pop band Maroon 5’s “Payphone” song played in the background.
Although at first glance it appeared an Islamic group took over the domain, White said he tended to believe local teenagers were behind it.
The website was pulled down entirely Monday afternoon, but had been restored Tuesday.
Christina Pullen, a spokeswoman with the FBI, said the bureau is pursuing this and other recent reports involving other Web sites aggressively. She added that it looks like the cases are limited to defacements.
Understanding the motive behind the attack could be key in finding a suspect, said Jeri Prophet, a cyber security expert and head IntellectTech Inc.
“What is it worth to a hacker? What kind of data sits behind the website, how hard is it to get to? Those are the type of things that go through a hacker’s mind,” Prophet said.
Monday, 13News Now reached out to White to find out if personal data was swiped during the breach, but he did not immediately respond for comment.
