The Wayne County Board of Education's website was changed Wednesday by hackers claiming to be members of the Islamic State.
On Wednesday morning, anyone visiting the school district's website was redirected to a page with Islamic State symbols. The page says it was created by a group that claims to be the "Elite Islamic State Hackers." They said the website was hacked "in the name of 'Allah.'"
The school board's website was taken down following the attack, but has since been restored.
State Police said the hacked page promoted terrorism. Their digital forensics unit, along with the FBI, are investigating the incident, though they say no specific threat was made.
State Police Lt. Michael Baylous said the forensics unit was still gathering evidence Wednesday afternoon. They will analyze evidence at their lab with help from the FBI.
Baylous said he isn't aware of similar attacks having happened anywhere else in West Virginia.
"This is the first time I'm aware of it happening here," he said.
Still, State Police say the public should be reminded that cyber-attacks like Wednesday's, while serious, are nothing more than a scare tactic.
"It is happening around the country more often though," Baylous said.
As for concern over a breach in security, school officials said the attack seems like an isolated event.
"In this case, it doesn't appear to be part of a larger attack on our schools," said Sterling Beane, chief technology officer for the state Department of Education.
Beane said he spoke with Wayne County officials and believes they had a vulnerable server or computer the hackers were able to infiltrate.
"They exploited a vulnerability," he said, later adding that hackers scan the Internet for systems susceptible to attack.
Beane said the school district hosts its own website and that the attack did not affect the state department's servers. He said there is no reason to believe student data or other sensitive information is at risk.
He did, however, issue a warning in light of Wednesday's attack.
"It can happen to anyone at anytime," he said. "Any user, whether they be a school system or individual, should run virus protection and be mindful of what they're doing."
Earlier this year, the department's website was attacked by a virus that rendered computing services inoperable for about 20 minutes.
Reach Samuel Speciale at sam.speciale@dailymailwv.com, 304-348-7939 or follow @samueljspeciale on Twitter.