A 17-year-old Eagle High student who overloaded the West Ada School District’s computer network to avoid schoolwork is in serious trouble — the kind that results in felony charges.
School officials suspended the boy Friday and are recommending expulsion.
The student launched something called a Distributed Denial of Service attack on the computer network for the entire West Ada School District earlier this week.
The student paid someone to overwhelm the school district’s computer systems with traffic from multiple sources.
The effect was widespread and significant. For instance, students from all across the district working on Idaho Standard Achievement tests lost all their work — with some students having to take the tests multiple times. Online learning classes and textbooks were not available for much of the last week. Administrative and business systems like payroll were also affected by the attack.
The attack took place earlier this week. District officials traced the source of the attack to the student and tracked him down Friday. The problem has been fixed and the network is back up.
Eagle Police continue to investigate the case. The boy will likely be charged with a felony charge of computer crime — which is punishable by up to 180 days in a juvenile detention facility. The boy’s family will also be responsible for any financial restitution suffered by the school district.
Federal charges are also a possibility. Eagle police are also investigating if a student at Eagle Middle School attempted to do a similar attack this week.
The West Ada School District is the biggest in Idaho, with 52 schools and over 36.000 students.