School division releases findings from probe into 2024 cybersecurity breach
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Contact and social insurance details belonging to some students, employees’ bank account numbers and images of cheques were among the data exposed in a hack against a Winnipeg school division.
Pembina Trails School Division announced some of the findings of its investigation into a December 2024 cybersecurity breach that led to student and staff information being published on the dark web.
The division said personal information belonging to some students who were enrolled at 12 schools between 1999 and 2024 was exposed.
South Pointe School in the Pembina Trails School Division is one of those affected by a December 2024 cybersecurity breach. (John Woods / Free Press files)
The schools are: Acadia, Bairdmore, Crane, Fort Richmond, Oakenwald, Pembina Trails Collegiate, Ralph Maybank, St. Avila, Shaftesbury, South Point, Vincent Massey and Viscount.
Details include students’ names, dates of birth, social insurance numbers, passport numbers, health card numbers, personal health details and disciplinary or behavioural information.
Teachers and other staff who were employed between 2001 and 2024 division-wide were also affected. Names, dates of birth, contact information, provincial health numbers and bank account numbers were breached.
Some social insurance numbers, personal health information and details of disciplinary action were accessed.
Hackers posted images of passport photo pages belonging to two teachers when they tried to sell the stolen data on the dark web last year.
Pembina Trails said names, contact information and passport numbers of people who provided passport scans or details between 2005 and 2024 were breached.
People who wrote cheques to the division between 2021 and 2024 were affected. Names, contact details and images of cheques, including account numbers, were exposed.
Some who gave driver’s licence numbers between 2005 and 2024, or who received honoraria between 2018 and 2024 were affected, as well.
Pembina Trails hired an outside cybersecurity firm to contain and investigate the hack. The division said a large volume of digital files was reviewed.
In a news release, superintendent and CEO Shelley Amos said Wednesday the division’s systems are secure.
The division has more than 17,600 students and almost 2,500 employees.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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