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Letter to East Burke High School employees
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Published: September 8, 2008
Dear,
We recently discovered that some of your personal information, including your social security number, was exposed on the internet. As a result, you may be at increased risk of identity theft. We have prepared this letter to answer some of your questions, and let you know what steps we have taken to secure your personal information.
What happened?
In August 2003, several files used to prepare the 2003-2004 East Burke High School Student Directory were temporarily placed on the East Burke High School website. One of those files contained sensitive employee information including names, social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, job titles, e-mail addresses, and a few unlisted phone numbers. In total, 163 staff who then worked at East Burke High were affected. Your name and personal information was on that list.
Due to staff turnover, the file was not deleted from the website. It remained online until we were recently notified by an internet watchdog group, the Liberty Coalition.
How long was the information on the internet?
The information was online for approximately five years. According to server records, the file was posted on August 3, 2003. The Liberty Coalition found the file on August 27, 2008. Though the information was technically available to the public during that time, we believe it was difficult to find. Of course, the information should never have been placed online, and we try to prevent it from ever happening again.
Our webmaster deleted the information within 20 minutes after the Liberty Coalition notified us. We also removed the personal information from search engines.
Who is the Liberty Coalition?
The Liberty Coalition is a Washington DC nonprofit organization which is not affiliated with Burke County Public Schools. They run a website, www.ssnbreach.org, where you can search for your name and get a report of what types of personal information were exposed.
Who accessed this data?
As of now, [we don't have any evidence that anyone with bad intentions has seen your personal information]. However, because the information was posted on the internet, we cannot guarantee that others have not accessed or copied it.
What is Identity Theft?
"Identity theft" is when someone pretends to be you, does something bad, and you get blamed for it. There are many types of identity theft. One example is when someone pretends to be you and gets a credit card in your name. When they use the credit card, you get stuck paying the bill.
Am I at Risk?
Experts have told us that the risk of identity theft is low in cases of accidental disclosure, such as this. At this time we are not aware of any instances of identity theft stemming from this incident. However, this is not a guarantee that your personal information is safe. That is why Burke County Schools is taking proactive steps to protect you from identity theft, should it occur.
What is Burke County Schools doing to protect me and prevent this from happening again?
Burke County Public Schools takes this matter very seriously, and is taking the following steps to protect you, and prevent a future breach:
1. Though Burke County Schools must keep all employees' social security numbers on file for tax and other purposes, we are replacing social security numbers with new employee numbers to minimize the number of staff with access to employees' social security numbers.
2. We will perform a thorough review of which employees currently have access to sensitive staff and student personal information, and identify those who do not need full access.
3. The school district will also begin mandatory staff training on privacy, and proper handling of personal information.
4. The school district will also perform a complete scan of our servers in the next month, to confirm, to best of our ability that no other personal information is at risk.
What should I do?
Though experts say that the risk of identity theft is low in these types of breaches, consider taking the following steps as a precaution:
· Credit Check: You are entitled to a free credit report once every 12 months. Check your credit to determine whether someone has opened unauthorized lines of credit in your name. You can get a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com.
· Credit Freeze: [Note: Not all states allow a credit freeze] A "credit freeze" prevents anyone (including yourself) from getting credit in your name without your explicit permission, for 90 days. See www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/d... for more information. Or visit www.ftc.gov, and click on "***" for more information.
· Check Financial Accounts: Immediately check all financial accounts and credit cards for unauthorized activity. If necessary, ask for a statement mid-month. Ask your bank to put a fraud alert on your accounts, and alert you if they see suspicious activity.
· If you are a victim of Identity Theft, call the FTC's Identity Theft Toll-Free Hotline at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).
· Continued Vigilance: Unfortunately, once your information has been exposed online, there is often no way to "bring it back." While risk of identity theft decreases over time, it may never completely disappear. We urge you to check your credit at least once a year, or more if you believe you are a victim of fraud.
· ID Theft Protection: Some companies will perform some of these things for you, so you don't have to think about it every 90 days. In addition to the Identity protection services provided by Burke County Schools, you may wish to purchase your own services. Burke County Schools does not endorse any one company, but the Liberty Coalition has posted links to three different companies at www.ssnbreach.org.
More Information on Identity Theft is available at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse at: www.privacyrights.org/identity.htm.
A meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 10 at 3 p.m. in the East Burke High School teaching theater to address questions you might have and to provide additional information. Representatives from the State Employees Credit Union will also be on hand to provide information and answer questions.
We sincerely regret this breach, and want you to know that we are doing everything in our power to make it right. If you have any additional questions, please contact me at (828) 439-4310.
Sincerely,
David Burleson
Superintendent
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