Personal information about millions of California students was stolen in the hack of a nonprofit organization that works under contract with the state Department of Education, officials said Friday.
The names, addresses, demographic information and disability status of the 7 million students enrolled in California public schools over the past three school years were revealed in this breach, the CDE said. The hack targeted the Education Testing Service, which administers standardized tests in the United States and around the world. In California, it manages statewide assessments such as the Smarter Balanced review and English proficiency tests.
An “unauthorized party used a compromised login credential” to copy files containing student data between May 22 and September 18, according to CDE officials. ETS didn’t discover the incursion until Sept. 25, days after it ended, and state officials began warning students and parents Friday, according to the CDE.
After discovering that the data had been recovered, the company took the server that stored it offline and disabled the account used in the hack. Law enforcement has been notified and is investigating, officials said.
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