Human error behind mass school data breach

THE REASON behind hundreds of high school students’ sensitive records — including medical and behavioural disorders — being published online has been confirmed.

HUMAN error has been confirmed as the reason behind a data breach of more than 300 high school students’ personal records — including medical and behavioural disorders — as the principal has apologised.

Teams of staff from the Department of Education converged on Strathmore Secondary College after hundreds of their students’ confidential records were released on their Compass site.

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Human error has been confirmed as the reason behind a data breach of more than 300 high school students’ personal records. Picture: Ellen Smith

The documents named students and detailed their diagnoses, whether they received government funding for disability support and even the medication they were taking.

Listed students’ mental and physical conditions included dyslexia, anxiety, ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s syndrome and acquired brain injury.

One student was even labelled as having an “extremely low IQ”.

The Herald Sun understands a staff member accidentally uploaded the information to the school community’s site instead of to a select group of teachers.

It was then seen by parents and students and even discussed on website Reddit.

Strathmore Secondary College principal Jillian English said she was “shocked and disappointed to learn that this information was incorrectly uploaded to our intranet”.

“I am so sorry for the distress and hurt this has caused our students and their families,” she said.

Education Minister James Merlino ordered an immediate investigation last night after being informed about the breach by the Herald Sun.

He slammed the incident as “nothing short of appalling”.

Counsellors have attended the school today to support students who may be distressed by the significant privacy breach.

The documents named students and detailed their diagnoses, whether they received government funding for disability support and even the medication they were taking.

The department’s privacy teams have also spent the day at Strathmore SC working with staff to reinforce privacy and IT policies.

A Department of Education spokesman said it had been “working closely with the school to understand how this could have happened”.

“The incident was not the result of any vulnerability in the school or the Department’s IT systems. It was the result of human error,” he said.

Opposition education spokesman Tim Smith said it was the “second major security breach” by the department in the last month — citing the unauthorised release of salaries of former staff, which were used in a television report.

“All Victorians are right to be very concerned about the competency of this government when it comes to protecting their personal data,” he said.

“Instead of making excuses, James Merlino needs to explain what specific steps he’s taking to stop these regular leaks of people’s private information.”

RELATED: STRATHMORE SC LEAKS ‘VERY DAMAGING’ STUDENT INFO

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