TNReady testing continued today without any issues across the state of Tennessee. The online testing was halted Tuesday after there were multiple issues including what the operating company is calling a “deliberate cyber attack.”
Lawmakers across Tennessee are upset with the TNReady problems. In a hearing before legislators in Nashville today, the state education commissioner was grilled, and one lawmaker even asked if she was going to resign. Candice McQueen told lawmakers she does not plan to resign, but the department is working with the test vendor, Questar to figure out what went wrong and what is next.
Despite the attack, Questar says no student information was compromised. Questar is based in Minnesota, and now the state’s bureau of investigation is looking into the cyber attack. The attack Tuesday morning halted testing in seven states including Tennessee and Mississippi.
University of Memphis computer science professor Dipankar Dasgupta says it is hard to pinpoint who is behind the attack, and added its best that companies like Questar work on the front end to prevent attacks, “they have to make sure their sites are fully secure and patches are up to date.”
Several state lawmakers have already proposed legislation including one measure that would essentially would toss out this year’s results because of the issues. Another lawmaker wants students to go back to pencil and paper testing.