Johann Castro reports: Some Austin ISD students mistakenly had their records released to people who weren’t their parents or legal guardians. According to a report from KVUE’s media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, documents revealed that a special education database vendor mistakenly released the private information for about 160 Austin students in December. The report…
Category: Education Sector
Scranton School District hit by cyber attack
Sarah Hofius Hall reports: The Scranton School District is the target of a ransomware attack, the acting superintendent confirmed Friday. Third-party forensic specialists are investigating the source of the incident and the impact on district systems and will “restore full functionality to the system as soon as possible,” according to the statement from Acting Superintendent…
South St. Paul Public Schools investigating potential cybersecurity threat
Maraya King reports: South St. Paul Public Schools alerted families this week to an ongoing technology disruption that is being investigated. Staff and families were notified Monday of technical difficulties “that may disrupt certain services” like online platforms, emails and other digital services. On Tuesday the district said it had been made aware of “unauthorized activity within…
EPIC Emphasizes That FCC Pilot Program Protect Student Privacy, Not Just School Cybersecurity
From the good folks at EPIC.org: On February 27, EPIC filed reply comments with the Federal Communications Commission supporting the FCC’s proposal to use funds from its E-Rate program to support strengthening cybersecurity at schools and libraries, as these are increasingly attractive targets to hackers. The E-Rate program uses discounted pricing to facilitate schools and libraries providing…
School cyber incidents on Long Island: Reported cases rose sharply in 2023
Craig Schneider reports: Long Island schools saw a big increase in the number of reported computer hacks and other cyber incidents in 2023 compared to the prior year, and human error continued to be a major cause of exposing sensitive student information such as special education disabilities and disciplinary problems, records show. Island schools suffered…
Updating: Prince George’s County Public Schools breach affected almost 100,000
In August 2023, Prince George’s County Public Schools disclosed a cyberattack. At the time, they reported that “an estimated 4,500 user accounts out of 180,000 were impacted, primarily staff accounts. The school system is still assessing the full scope of this incident, but as of this time, the main business and student information systems –…