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Data Breaches Aren't Just Business Issues... They Are School District Issues, Too How secure is your district's Information Technology System? Do you adequately protect confidential information about your students and your employees? Do you know if your district has had a data breach? When a breach compromises staff or student data, it can devastate the life of the victim for years to come. The effects of a Social Security number being stolen can have lasting consequences. There are some that will use an unauthorized SSN to get a job, and some who will use it to assume the identity of another person to commit fraud, which can ruin the victim's credit or pile up debt for the victim. But even if it is used for only to get a job, it can affect the victim's SSN benefits when needed later in life. The general consensus of most businesses, school districts and other public agencies is that even if they fail to protect identifiable information, they will nonetheless be exempt from prosecution, and will not have to account for their negligence – unless the victims can prove they suffered loss or harm from the breach. But the Federal Trade Commission declared in a recent ruling that common sense will prevail over technical legal arguments when it comes to governmental sanctions. The FTC concluded "that enterprises could be found negligent for promising to protect user data but subsequently failing to implement the security precautions required to meet those promises." What does this mean for school districts? While these types of rulings and litigation have not yet impacted K-12 education, it is only a matter of time before litigators test the precedents set forth in private sector cases on school district activities. Consider the increasing number of information security breaches that are taking place across the country in public education. Here is just a sampling:
As the hacker community continues to discover this untapped treasure trove of information and identities, they will begin positioning themselves to take advantage of the thousands of unprotected and vulnerable school district technology systems across the county. While higher education is adopting new systems to identify students and protect their personal information, a child's Social Security number is still the primary form of identification at the K-12 level. This makes every child a target for identity theft. Children are the fastest growing demographic prone to identity theft because few parents monitor their children’s credit, and years can go by before they know they've been victimized. More private sector companies are being sued than ever before, and are being held liable for "things their IT departments didn't do." These companies are coming to the realization that either they develop an ongoing security program including assessments, or the FTC will mandate far stricter measures. Don't gamble with the security of your data about your students and your employees. Perform – or have a qualified person perform – an information security review and assessment at your school district to secure the personal information for your students, faculty and staff against unauthorized intrusion. Editor's Note: Solveig Monson is the Director of Administrative Services for the educational consulting firm Total School Solutions. |
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