Springfield, Massachusetts public schools have entered a months-long recovery phase after a cyberattack struck just before the Labor Day weekend, leaving the district without email, phones or record access and cancelling classes for four days. Schools reopened on 14 September with email, phones and medical and food-service systems restored, and IT staff, city IT employees and outside consultants are now reimaging thousands of student and staff laptops in phases with what the district calls a clean reset and strengthened security. Officials say some data has been stolen and posted on the dark web — known stolen information includes names, birthdates and addresses — but the full extent remains unknown, and investigators are still determining whether staff Social Security numbers were accessed; the district does not routinely keep that information for students. The FBI, Massachusetts State Police and local detectives continue to investigate, and the mayor said the attackers are believed to be a sophisticated global group that uses artificial intelligence.

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