Kristina Beek reports: On Jan. 28, the Freehold Township School District informed its staff, families, and students that its schools and offices would be closed today due to a cybersecurity incident. School officials said that because of the incident, the district, located in Freehold, N.J., was experiencing technical difficulties and that it is working with third-party cybersecurity experts to…
Category: Education Sector
NYS Comptroller Audit: Garrison Union Free School District – Information Technology (2023M-127)
Issued Date: January 19, 2024 [read complete report – pdf] Audit Objective Determine whether Garrison Union Free School District (District) officials secured the District’s network user accounts, established physical controls and maintained inventory records for information technology (IT) equipment, and developed an IT contingency plan. Key Findings District officials did not adequately secure the District’s…
K-12 Cybersecurity Spending, Insurance on the Rise
Government Technology reports: While school districts have a heightened awareness of cyber attacks and are increasingly improving their defense systems, most indicate that they still need dedicated personnel to better protect their data in addition to stronger collaboration from staff, according to an annual survey by the school software company Clever. Clever’s 27-page report, released this…
UK: Coventry school reprimanded for data breach after IT system ‘hacked three times’
Claire Harrison reports: A Coventry school has been reprimanded for data breaches after its IT system was ‘hacked three times’. In doing so, the Information Commissioners Office has said that Finham Park Multi Academy Trust did not have adequate account lockout or password policies in place.. The ICO said, in a report, that an unauthorised third party…
Raptor Technologies’ unsecured blob exposure was worse than they acknowledged. Here’s what we know — and don’t know — so far.
On January 11, DataBreaches noted a concerning blob exposure discovered by Jerome Fowler and first reported by vpnMentor. As WIRED’s Matt Burgess reported: Last month, security researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered 800 gigabytes of files and logs linked to school software provider Raptor Technologies. The firm provides software that allows schools to track student attendance, monitor…
US School Shooter Emergency Plans Exposed in Raptor Technologies Data Leak
Matt Burgess reports: Thousands of emergency planning documents from US schools—including their safety procedures for active shooter emergencies—were leaked in a trove of more than 4 million records that were inadvertently made public. Last month, security researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered 800 gigabytes of files and logs linked to school software provider Raptor Technologies. The firm…