Did hackers disrupt Common Core testing in California?

Did hackers prevent California students from taking their Common Core tests on time last week?

That’s what some local school officials seem to think.

{mosads}Hundreds of thousands of Bay Area students were unable to log in to the special system for taking the standardized test for several hours on Thursday, according to a report.

While the problem was ultimately resolved, officials with the Oakland Unified School District told the media they thought a denial-of-service attack might be responsible.

“It was a deliberate attack. Not just a malfunction,” Troy Flint, a spokesman for the district, told KPIX 5.

“As far as we know, it was intentional … The state was subjected to some sort of attack and that’s what caused the system to bog down.”

State education officials blamed a software update, not a cyberattack.

“It wasn’t caused by a slow internet connection or a lack of server space. It was caused by a software update,” said Bill Ainsworth, a spokesman for the California Department of Education.

“The bottom line is the testing is going very smoothly in California,” he said.

California was not the only state to face difficulties this spring — the first for Common Core standardized tests around the country.

Headlines from more than a dozen states, including Colorado, Florida and Illinois, reported problems issuing the computerized exams. Only a few mentioned potential hacking incidents.

Common Core is at the center of a heated political debate, making it possible some online might want to sabotage the tests.

The program is a set of national learning standards for math and reading in public schools, and is strongly opposed by the Tea Party, which considers it an example of federal overreach.