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Ontario students write literacy test today —on paper
Ontario students white Illiiteiracy test today on paper
EQAO online version cancelled after massive cyberattack during pilot project last fall.
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By: Torstar News Service, Published on Fhu IMar 30 2017
Ontario's Grade 10 students are writing a low-tech version of the literacy test Thursday morning — using
pen and paper — after a cyberattack last fall forced officials to cancel it for 150,000 students.
The Education and Quality and Accountability Office, or EQAO, has confirmed the digital version of the test
on October 20 — as part of a pilot project to move the mandatory exam online — waslintenfloirlaHly
taIirgeted by hackers in what's called a sustained distributed denial of service attack.
Toronto police investigated but have not been able to track down the hackers.
The test was cancelled just hours after it began, and the EQAO says it is now working to improve its online
security. Students must pass in order to graduate.
The EQAO was criticized by cybersecurity experts who said it should have been better prepared, given
attacks like this — ones where sites are overloaded with "junk" traffic — are increasingly common.
At the height of the attack, 99 per cent of the traffic was not from schools or boards, but instead IP
addresses from around the world.
"I'm not sure if this kind of thing can ever be figured out," the EQAO's Richard Jones told the Star. "There
were IP addresses from all over the world, and to find the source is a really difficult thing."
While the EQAO had hoped to run the test online during its usual spring date, it later said it was safest to
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3/31/2017
Ontario students write literacy test today —on paper
"We really just decided that it was far too risky to do that," said Jones, the agency's CEO. " ... One of the
things that we learned through the trial was how upsetting it was for students, and obviously students were
very, very anxious, frustrated."
The agency will still move ahead with a digital version of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, but
does not have a timeline.
On Thursday morning, high school teachers were posting messages of encouragement to their students
using social media, including one in the Grand Erie public board who tweeted pictures of tables with bowls
of fruit, juice and water saying "Good luck in the #OSSLT everyone! We've got your nutritional needs
covered!"
Another said "Keep calm and pass the OSSLT."
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