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Public board offers credit monitoring to students impacted by 'cyber security incident'

School board confirms students who attended WRDSB schools between 2006 and 2013 were impacted by data breach
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The Waterloo Region District School Board is confirming that some information in the student grade database was impacted by a July 10 cyber incident that impacted thousands of students and employees.

The data involved included information for some students enrolled in the 2006-07 through 2012-13 academic years.

Given the years involved, the vast majority of individuals are former students. Social insurance numbers, addresses, and financial information were not accessible in this database.

“We understand that students, former students, parents and caregivers are concerned about their personal information and that of their loved ones. We also know the time this process has taken has added to the stress,” said Eusis Dougan-McKenzie, interim chief communications officer in a press release.

“In August, when we learned that student information was involved, we shared that fact publicly. Unfortunately, at that time we did not know precisely which students or what information was involved. We requested your patience and trust as we undertook the complex and time-consuming analysis of this data. We have now completed a significant portion of that work, and can now share the results.”

The cyber security experts working with the board's IT team were able to determine that the intrusion did not include the board's main student information system.

They confirmed the data was from the 2006-07 through 2012-13 academic years, and the type of information that was impacted. It was also determined that not all students registered in that period of time were impacted. The data of approximately 70,000 individuals was taken. That data may have included:

  • Student name;
  • Date of birth;
  • Gender;
  • Ontario Education Number (OEN);
  • Whether the student had an individualized education plan (IEP); and
  • Historical educational information such as the student’s former school, classroom or teachers.

While cyber experts have advised that the risk of identity theft for those involved is very low, the WRDSB says it's committed to protecting the individuals involved from even the most remote harm, and is offering one year of complimentary credit monitoring to anyone in the data set.

To determine if your information was involved in this incident, anyone affected is asked to do the following:

  • Call TransUnion at 1-833-806-1882,
  • State that you are calling in relation to the Waterloo Regional District School Board credit monitoring program, and
  • Provide your name.

If you were in the data set, TransUnion will provide you with a credit monitoring code and more information on how to register for one year of complimentary credit monitoring.

The WRDSB says it deeply regrets this incident and any concern or inconvenience it may have caused students and employees.

The WRDSB adds it is committed to safeguarding student information, the data has been recovered recovered and the board has received assurances that any copies were deleted.

The board says it is committed to transparency regarding the impact of this incident and will continue to share the results of its analysis as it becomes available.