Does anyone remember the massive data security incident involving the University of Maryland in 2014? Here’s a link to some of this site’s preliminary coverage of that breach. Hundreds of thousands impacted, lots of media coverage and analyses, and you’d hope that the state would have learned its lesson about storing and protecting student and employee data. But perhaps the state university system folks don’t talk to the state education department folks?
Doug Levin just tweeted a link to a depressing — and infuriating report by Colin Wood. It begins:
A recent audit has revealed that the Maryland Department of Education “inappropriately” stored personal information of more than 1.4 million students and more than 230,000 teachers.
The report published by the Maryland General Assembly’s audit office last week found that the education department stored personally identifiable information in databases and applications in plaintext format, leaving it more susceptible to interception by bad actors. The audit also found that the department had not instated “sufficient” malware protection, nor did it ensure that critical systems managed by third parties were protected against security risks.
Read more on EdScoop while I go smash something.