An 18-year-old former Klein Forest High School student has been charged with orchestrating a cyberattack that critically disrupted online testing for thousands of his peers, officials report. Keontra Lamont Kenemore is facing a third-degree felony charge for electronic access interference following the incident, which took place during State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams in April. According to the Houston Chronicle, Klein ISD's IT department was able to trace the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack back to Kenemore.
The teen reportedly utilized his school-issued Chromebook to access and subsequently initiate the attack, which the Click2Houston says managed to take down the district's internet across two days. The outage impacted a staggering 24,279 students who were attempting to take their exams on April 16 and 17. The attack seems to not only have caused widespread disruptions but may also negatively affect the Klein ISD Accountability Rating from the Texas Education Agency.
"This incident underscores the reality that online actions are not anonymous, and any attempt to disrupt our systems will be met with serious consequences," Justin Elbert, executive director of communications for Klein ISD, told the Houston Chronicle in a statement. Kenemore, who was expelled from the district per officials, reportedly confessed to his role in the disruption when confronted by school administrators.
A warrant was issued for Kenemore's arrest over Memorial Day weekend, reports from school officials detail. The method of attack was described as akin to a "flash mob filling a restaurant, with no intention of dining or buying, leaving those who want to eat there unable to because it’s full," by Nigel Neilsen, a local IT company owner, during an interview with Click2Houston. Kenemore's alleged deliberate actions involved using a link creator site to gather IP addresses which were then used on a network stress tester site believed to be hosted in Sweden.
Despite allegations of Kenemore's intentional actions, a family member conveyed to KPRC 2's Bryce Newberry over the phone that the teen claimed it was an accident. He is now unable to graduate due to his expulsion following the charges. Klein ISD did not provide immediate comments on the matter as the district was closed for the holiday, with officials stating responses may be delayed until after Memorial Day weekend.
