David Holsted reports: Computer hackers didn’t get money out of Alpena Schools. The district is the latest victim of ransomware, a denial-of-access attack that prevents computer users from accessing files. However, Superintendent Andrea Martin said the district did not pay the ransom, and no harm was done to the files. No important information was lost….
Category: Education Sector
IL: Security breach could affect Black Hawk College employees
Anthony Watt reports: Information about Black Hawk College employees and their dependents could have been compromised in a hack of a former insurance provider’s server. Summit Reinsurance Services Inc. has notified the college that the names, Social Security numbers, health insurance information and medical records of 1,000 current and former employees could have been accessed…
CT: Bristol Board of Ed adopts new student data security policy
Susan Corica reports: The Board of Education has adopted a new policy to protect the privacy of student data, to comply with new state legislation. […] Under the new policy, “for any contract that we generate, after Oct. 1 of 2016, we need to have a clause in there that tells us exactly how they…
Nearly half of education-vendor websites tested had security problems, audit reveals
Nichole Dobo writes: Nearly half of the more than 1,200 education technology vendor websites used by teachers and students, and checked in an October audit, did not include a secure log-in, according to a new survey. This makes these programs vulnerable to a security breach – a school leader’s nightmare. “We want people to fix this,”…
Data breach affects Frederick County schools (UPDATED)
WMAR reports: A data breach may have affected up to 1000 students at Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) officials said. The breach impacted students who attended FCPS between November 2005 and November 2006. The breached information includes names, social security numbers and birth dates. AP adds important details that the breach was brought to the school…
Queensland U. of Technology hires IT firm to investigate claims student data was improperly accessed in 18C case
Hedley Thomas reports: An independent new probe will investigate whether unlawful privacy breaches at the Queensland University of Technology led to the personal data of students in a racial hatred case being obtained by the lawyers for their accuser during her $250,000 damages claim. QUT has asked external IT experts to examine computer and back-up…