Remember back in August 2023 when Prince George’s County Public Schools faced a bit of a digital kerfuffle? It turns out some joker decided to have a sneaky look-see at their data, and it caused a bit of a panic. Initial reports said about 4,500 accounts out of nearly 180,000 were affected. Most of these were staff accounts, but the full extent of the impact was a bit cloudy at the time. Luckily, their main systems for business and student information seemed to get away without a scratch.
Fast forward to November, and a group known as Rhysida decided to take credit for the stunt, even going so far as to put the pilfered data up for sale. Now, whether they managed to make a penny or two from this sale remains a mystery. They then changed their tune slightly by releasing some data they hadn’t managed to sell (cheeky, right?). Supposedly, Rhysida had gotten their mitts on more than 1.4 million files and a whopping 1.2 TB of data. They made no bones about it and sent out a digital cry of “Data hunters, enjoy”.
Fast forward again, this time to just last week. The school district was having a chinwag with the Maine Attorney General’s Office and revealed that a hefty 99,543 people were affected by the attack. According to their letter, the details possibly viewed or bagged during this incident varied from person to person. But it’s all rather serious stuff, with individual’s names, financial account information, and even Social Security Numbers being part of the potential haul.
To add a cherry on top, another letter was dispatched to the state. Instead of going into detail about the types of pinched info, this one was addressed to those who might fit the bill as employees, prospective employees, or current or former students. It’s quite a blight to realise that at any point, these individuals could have been the ones directly impacted by this digital breach.
So, the moral of our story? Keep an eye on who’s keeping an eye on your data. You wouldn’t leave your front door wide open, would you? The same logic applies here. Be wary of your digital footprint, and make sure you’re only sharing what’s needed when it’s needed.
Nobody ever told us that navigating this digital world would be a walk in the park. But surely the strange tale of Prince George’s County Public Schools serves as a stark reminder. After all, it’s better to learn from others’ mistakes, right? If you take care of the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves – and the same can be said for personal data. Take care, you lot!
by Parker Bytes
