Student, teacher data compromised
By Staff
Personal data of more than 75,000 of Fairfax County Public Schools students and more than 3,000 teachers were inadvertently posted to an unsecured Web site for more than a month this summer.
School officials learned of the breach from a New York Times article published Aug. 19 and began alerting parents of affected students Aug. 22. The data, including student names, FCPS identification numbers, and dates of birth, were exposed between June 28 and Aug. 18. There is no evidence that any of the information has been misused.
All students who were in grades three to eight during the 2005-06 school year were affected, school officials said. FCPS had a contract with Princeton Review to conduct Standards of Learning practice tests at that time, but it no longer has a contract with the company.
The information was only accessible to "highly sophisticated computer users," according to a statement from Princeton Review. The company is conducting an investigation into its security procedures.
"We have apologized to our customers for this situation, and assured them that access to the information has been closed, and that we are working diligently to put in place any needed remedies to make certain this problem does not recur," the statement said.
Parents with concerns can call Princeton Review at 800-955-4600.