The South East Cornerstone Public School Division in Saskatchewan is grappling with the aftermath of a security breach affecting potentially 20,000 individuals. The breach, reported in August 2023, involved unauthorized access to three IT systems, with data moved to a third-party cloud storage provider. The compromised information includes social insurance numbers, banking details, and personal information of both current and former staff, students, and parents, reaching back to February 2010 for staff and September 1997 for students.
The severity of the potential data leak has raised alarm, with experts emphasizing the lifelong impact such breaches can have on individuals. The school division, in response, has employed third-party cybersecurity experts to monitor the dark web for any signs of stolen information. Despite the lack of confirmation on the specific data taken, concerns persist over the possible misuse of sensitive information. The privacy commissioner recommends a five-year dark web monitoring period, acknowledging the unpredictable release of stolen data.
