At the Aug. 11 board of trustees meeting, HISD Chief Technology Officer Dustin Hardin addressed what the district has determined was a cyber attack, which heavily affected the MyHumble server between 8-9 a.m. Hardin also responded to several community members who, during public comment, accused the district of blaming an overwhelmed server on a cyber attack.
"To say that we would lie or we would say that it's a cyber attack is completely untrue," Hardin said.
The district worked with cyber security consultants to diagnose the issues with the server, and the consultants did determine it was a SYN flood attack, Hardin said. Despite the attack, roughly 29,077 students were able to gain access to MyHumble by 10:30 a.m., he said.
Later in the meeting, the board unanimously voted to hire Aramark, a national food service, facility and uniform provider, to serve as the new operator of Child Nutrition Services. HISD Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen said the director of Child Nutrition Services position was left vacant last year when the former director retired.
"Whenever we have an opportunity arise, we want to make sure we're moving forward in the very best way possible," she said. "My Student Advisory [Council] had brought up some concerns with the food. They wanted more food, different food, perhaps a salad bar."
With the new contract with Aramark, all Child Nutrition Services employees will continue to be employed by the district, Fagen said. Additionally, the contract must be reviewed annually and approved by the board.
"This is simply trying a new approach with the director position so that we can have access to chefs and menus and new ideas and new thinking in our food service program for our children," she said.
