PWCS Believes Offensive Message Was Hoax, Not Website Hack

Despite internet articles to the contrary, Prince William County School believes their website was never hacked and the image of offensive language appearing on social media was merely a part of “A widely perpetuated hoax.”

Yesterday evening images of the PWCS webpage containing an offensive message circulated on social media. The image appeared to show that the website had been hacked.

The image spread to online news/entertainment sites such as Gawker’s “THEVANE." That site assumed the alleged hack to be the result of a disgruntled tech-savy student, demonstrating his displeasure at PWCS's decision to remain open Tuesday, despite hazardous weather conditions.

Such articles added to the image's credibility as it was further shared on social media among adults. However, the Gawker article does not claim to have taken image directly the PWCS website, and may have discovered it via social media outlets such as Snapchat. Additionally, the author did not verify the information with the school division.

According to Communications Director Phil Kavits, PWCS found no evidence that the site had actually been hacked and believes the image was a fake.

“We have no evidence that we have had any kind of hack,” said Kavits. “What we think we have here is a hoax. We took it seriously, because we take seriously the security of our site. What we determined is there were only three authorized PWCS users [on the site Tuesday.] There were no changes made at any time.”

Kavits said the first the office heard of the incident was from the internet articles. Kavits said that his office was never contacted by any of those media outlets who published stories alleging the hack. He also notes that even in THEVANE’s comment section, one reader even showed how simple it is to create an image, which makes it appear as though the PWCS website had been hacked.

Kavits concluded, ‘there is no reason to believe our site was ever changed.”

Kavits recognizes that many were upset and concerned about having school opened on Tuesday and the bus accidents that resulted. PWCS had already issued an apology, but he also clarified that while the bus incidents are regrettable, no one was injured.

“ slow steep collisions, vehicles slipped off the road. No one was injured; no medical treatment required,” Kavits said, adding, “It was a difficult day for many. It ended safely.”