The Pearland School District Suffers a Data Breach Impacting More than 55,000 People

The Pearland Independent School District spans over 23 separate campuses in the Pearland, Texas area. The district teaches over 21,000 students and employs as many as 1,771 individuals. The large district generates approximately $144 million in revenue annually and handles data for tens of thousands of students, parents, and employees. The district was the recent victim of a data breach and could be the cause of thousands of people being exposed to cyber-attacks and losing money, and suffering from identity theft. 

How Did the Attack Occur?

The Pearland Independent School District breach occurred because one or more hackers learned how to break into the district's file systems to access confidential documents. Once inside, the attackers gathered harmful and private data and began transferring it for later use. Once a substantial amount of information was gathered, the school noted that it had been breached and began responding to the issues. 

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?

The data breach impacted a huge number of people, but only a small amount of information was taken from each person involved. If you were exposed by this data breach, the attackers likely got your name, address, date of birth, and your Social Security number. This is enough information to real damage to your credit and to leverage identity theft attacks against you, but many breaches resulted in the loss of substantially more information from each person. 

How Did the Pearland Independent School District Admit to the Breach?

The Pearland district admitted to the data breach on June 6, 2023, by sending a notice to the Maine Attorney General's office and sending out more than 55,000 individual letters or messages to students, employees, and parents in the school district that could have lost some of their information in the breach. 

What Will Become of the Stolen Information?

The stolen information will likely be given away or resold online. It's likely the data will be sent to a dark web location and that it will be shared with other people or sold for profit. There's no way to know what the attackers will do with the gathered data, but it's likely the person will attempt to make a profit from it. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?

If you were a victim of this data breach, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. The most effective step to take is to get identity theft protection services. These special services will enable you to see when any changes are made to your credit quickly. By finding out this information fast, you can respond to any fake additions to your credit and protect yourself. This breach is a real problem for many people that rely on the Pearland school district. If you believe your information was lost in this breach, you should take steps to safeguard yourself. Making just a few changes is all that's necessary to protect yourself from most identity theft attacks. You should also avoid giving away any information to people you don't know and never tell anyone your passwords or other personal data.