Klein ISD high school student accused of launching cyberattack, disrupting STAAR testing

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Keontra Kenemore, 18, is facing a third-degree felony charge of electronic access interference after allegedly launching a cyber-attack. This attack, known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS), overwhelmed the district’s network services during the state-mandated STAAR testing in April, according to court documents.

The attack affected more than 24,000 students across the district. Kenemore is accused of using his school-issued Chromebook to access websites that initiated the attack.

“This is analogous to pulling the fire alarm to get out of an exam,” explained Chris Bronk, a professor at the University of Houston.

Court documents indicate that the disruptions affected all district campuses. On the first day of testing, approximately 3,000 students taking the English Language Arts exam were locked out and had to restart their tests. An additional 700 students had to restart their exams the following day on April 17.

Kenemore admitted to district officials that he used websites to launch the attacks multiple times, according to the records. Consequently, Kenemore was immediately expelled and charges were pursued.

A district spokesperson noted that this incident could impact the accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency.