On Twitter Thursday, the hacker group "thedarkoverlord" publicly took responsibility for stealing student directory data and using that information to threaten Johnston school district parents and teachers.
The group then posted the data online on the website Pastebin, however operators there quickly removed it.
This is the group that's taken credit for stealing new episodes of the hit show "Orange Is The New Black" and posting them online. And they've hacked medical establishments and websites, all of them demanding money.
Johnston isn't the first school district to face the problem.
Last month, the Flathead County, Montana Sheriff released a ransom text message received by the Columbia Falls school district in a text message. It threatens to release district data if the school district doesn't pay 150 thousand dollars in Bitcoin right away, then $11,000 a month for six months.
Johnston school officials haven't said if they got a similar ransom text.
"thedarkoverlord" has claimed credit for dumping episodes of "Orange Is The New Black" online when Netflix refused to pay a ransom.
It's believed the group may have at least one member in Great Britain, but the FBI has investigated at least one person in the US they believe may be involved.
While the hackers did post stolen Johnston Schools data online on the website "Pastebin"...it was quickly taken down by the site. It's not known how many people were able to access it.
After announcing the Johnston data was online, The Dark Overload posted on Twitter: