An 18-year-old student from Klein Forest High School in Harris County, Texas, is accused of conducting cyber attacks that severely disrupted STAAR testing for thousands of students. Keontra Lamont Kenemore is wanted for electronic access interference, a third-degree felony, for allegedly using his school-issued Chromebook to initiate Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. The attacks caused significant internet disruptions across the Klein Independent School District (Klein ISD), affecting approximately 24,279 students over three days in April.
The cyber attack began on April 16, the first day of the English Language Arts (ELA1/Reading) STAAR test, locking out 3,000 students and causing them to restart their tests. On the following day, 700 students were also locked out, leading to a complete retake of their tests. The disruptions continued on April 18, impacting the district’s online testing once again. According to IT experts, this type of attack is relatively simple and inexpensive to perform, likely costing the perpetrator around $20.
Kenemore allegedly admitted to accessing the websites used to launch the attacks when questioned by school administrators. The attacks were compared to a flash mob overwhelming a venue, making it impossible for legitimate users to access the required services. The incident has raised concerns about the potential impact on Klein ISD’s Accountability Rating from the Texas Education Agency.
Despite efforts to reach Kenemore for comment, no one responded at his current address. His family claims the attack was accidental, though investigators assert it was intentional, based on Kenemore’s use of multiple tools to identify and target the district’s public IP address. Klein ISD and the Texas Education Agency have yet to provide detailed comments on the incident.
