The news comes after a district-wide data breach in early June pushed back the start of summer school and temporarily delayed pay for teachers and staff. The breach knocked out web access in the district’s schools that month, the district said.
“This summer, we were confronted with a data security incident. This is a rising trend that we’re seeing with global threat actors attacking institutions like school districts. As a result, we have remained fully committed to the safety and security of our faculty, staff and community. This investigation will take some time,” Superintendent Akil Ross said in a video shared with families and staff.
The school district said the investigation is ongoing and intends to notify those impacted by the incident on a rolling basis. A spokesperson for the district declined to confirm the number of people impacted, citing the ongoing investigation.
The district, which serves students in the are around Chapin and Irmo, will offer credit monitoring and identity theft protection to both the people whose data was breached and to all current district staff, “though we do not have confirmation at this time that their information is at risk.” A spokesperson for the district told The State the cost for credit monitoring and identity theft protection is included in its insurance costs.
The district will hold a virtual town hall Aug. 26 with a former FBI official to answer questions from the community, officials said in the letter to families.
“We apologize for any inconvenience. I know we will emerge a better and stronger school district from this experience,” Ross said in the letter.
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