Cyber attack was behind EQAO literacy test troubles by Kathy Yanchus Metroland West Media 23 | Thursday, October 27, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com I was eating the same things day after day. Now I have more than 200 choices... and delivery is free! The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) has confirmed that the cause of the technical issue that forced the cancellation of the Oct. 19 province-wide literacy test last week, "was an intentional, malicious type of cyber attack." "An extremely large volume of traffic from a vast set of IP addresses around the globe was targeted at the network hosting the assessment application. The impact of this Distributed Denial of Service, initiated by an unknown entity or entities, was to block legitimate users' (ie, school boards, schools and students) access to the EQAO test application," reads a statement on the EQAO website. The office continues to investigate the incident, which affected as many as 140,000 students across Ontario, including Grade 10 students at both Halton school boards. "We were shocked to learn that someone would deliberately interfere with the administration of the online OSSLT," said EQAO director Richard Jones. "There will be discussions over the next few weeks to determine how to strengthen We were shocked to learn that someone would deliberately interfere with the administration of the online OSSLT. There will be discussions over the next few weeks to determine how to strengthen the system, and we will continue to work with Ontario's education community to understand how best to use online assessments to benefit our province's students. Richard Jones EQAO director Get delicious, frozen meals, soups and desserts delivered directly to your home. Made for Seniors Request your FREE Menu Catalogue Today! 1-844-409-0050 HeartToHomeMeals.ca the system, and we will continue to work with Ontario's education community to understand how best to use online assessments to benefit our province's students." The online OSSLT was a trial to test the system's readiness before the regularly scheduled test in March, when both online and pen-and-paper versions will be available to students, said Jones. No personal student information was compromised, as a result of the incident, said the EQAO statement. Free Delivery*. No Obligation. Delicious Choices. *some conditions may apply. Advertorial GTA Equipment Rentals Donates `Gift-In-Kind' , Supporting Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga's Build Program Headquartered in Burlington, Ontario, GTA Equipment Rentals is a family-owned and operated company that provides top quality rental equipment for both commercial and residential projects in the GTA. Started by brothers Wess & Achille Ettorre, with one Bobcat and lots of support from friends and family, the company today boasts over 50 pieces of large construction equipment for rental. How did GTA Equipment Rentals become a construction gift-in-kind partner with Habitat for Humanity Halton Mississauga (HFHHM)? It was one of Habitat's partners, A Action Towing & Recovery, who was instrumental in making the introduction. Wess Ettore, GTA's Co-CEO responsible for daily operations explains, "Well I'm not going to lie. When I got the call to see if I was interested, I was happy to have the opportunity to help! There are many things that Habitat needs on a build site, so to be able to supply a Bobcat for a couple of days or a couple of weeks is something we can definitely do." Wess adds, "We actually started the company by coming across a deal on a Bobcat and we looked at each other and said `should we?'. So we bought our first piece of equipment on a credit card and we've never looked back." Their success is largely due to their belief in customer satisfaction, making the following their top priorities: a high-quality, well-maintained fleet, a knowledgeable and well-trained staff and on-time delivery. When asked to comment on their partnership with Habitat, Wess stated, "There's a lot of ways to give. If someone thinks it's too small, it's not. Every little bit helps. At the end of the day, we're all human. GTA Rentals is here to grow, build relationships with companies and home owners and try to be very connected within our community to do our part to give back. We'd like to keep going and be more in tune with exactly what's going on at the sites so that we can send people to help build. We have never done something like this before, where we're contributing to building something for a family and putting a roof over someone's head. It's a life changer." Founding brothers and Co-CEO's of GTA Equipment Rentals, Achille & Wess Ettorre are giving back to their community by partnering with Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga. For more information on how you can donate Construction Gift-In-Kind materials or services, for Burlington, Milton or Mississauga, please contact Lindsay Tuttle at 905-691-9369 or ltuttle@habitathm.ca. habitathm.ca