Virus may be to blame for District 47 theft

A fast-spreading virus that has infected hundreds of thousands of computers nationwide may be behind the recent loss of as much as $350,000 from bank accounts kept by Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47, authorities said this week.

The so-called Clampi virus captures usernames and passwords to wire money out of bank accounts kept by mid-sized organizations, according to local officials and media accounts.

According to a recent Washington Post report, hackers have used the virus to steal millions from American companies and recently began to target bank accounts held by public schools.

District 47 Superintendent Donn Mendoza said on Wednesday he believes the Clampi virus is responsible for the loss of between $325,000 and $350,000 from district bank accounts used to pay for day-to-day expenses.

"We believe it was the cause of this," Mendoza said. "We believe we were one of the first entities - nationwide where this happened."

The district first announced the theft in July. It occurred sometime before a district employee discovered the loss June 29.

An FBI spokesman confirmed Wednesday the computer breaches are the subject of a nationwide federal probe that is looking at the theft in District 47 and two other Chicago area school districts.

"We've had several incidents reported to us in the past few months," said Ross Rice, spokesman for the FBI's Chicago office. "We believe that there have been similar computer intrusions that have taken place across the country, so we are working jointly with other FBI offices across the country."

Luke Glowiak, assistant superintendent for business in Sycamore Community Unit District 427, said his district had experienced a similar issue. He declined to comment further.

"We have experienced a problem," Glowiak said. "It's being actively investigated by federal authorities."

The identity of the third district was not readily available.

Mendoza said the FBI's investigation could take up to a year to complete.

Since the theft in District 47, the district has implemented stricter accounting procedures and is now enacting new measures to enhance computer security, Mendoza said.