Targeted attack halted online exam, says EQAO

A targeted distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyberattack was the cause of the technical issues that led to the cancellation of online Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) in October, the Education Quality and Accountability Office’s (EQAO) said this week.

Looking to move such assessments online, EQAO attempted to conduct the first province-wide administration of the OSSLT on Oct. 20. The assessment was cancelled within a few hours, due to widespread technical issues with the system caused by the DDoS cyberattack.

The day of the cyberattack, an independent third-party forensic firm, Deloitte, was retained by EQAO to conduct an investigation into the incident. The Toronto Police Service was also notified shortly thereafter and began a separate investigation, which has been unable to identify the perpetrators of the cyberattack.

“All necessary steps will continue to be taken to identify any potential persons of interest should new information become available,” said Detective Constable Nathan Dayler of the Toronto Police Service.

The attack appeared to commence just after 8 a.m. on Oct. 20, which coincides with the start of the school day in Ontario. The attack appeared to stop at around 12 p.m., which is within one hour of EQAO’s announcement that the test was cancelled. These observations lead to the conclusion that the cyberattack specifically targeted the OSSLT.