VancouverMETRO VANCOUVER NEWS
Personal information of students, parents and staff stolen in Burnaby cyberattack
Burnaby’s school district says files containing personal information were copied during last month’s ransomware attack. Potentially affected records include student identities, kindergarten assessments and staff personnel information.
Burnaby’s school district has confirmed that “criminal actors” stole personal information belonging to students, parents and staff during a ransomware attack on its systems last month. The district says an unauthorized third party accessed some files on Sept. 21. Officials acted quickly to respond and contain the incident, but files containing personal information were copied.
The stolen information may include the names and contact information of parents and students for 2024 and 2026, as well as students’ personal education numbers, dates of birth, grades and schools. Documents submitted as proof of residency by students who enrolled in 2024 or 2026 may also have been taken. Those documents could include citizenship, permanent residency or visa records.
Other affected material includes kindergarten assessment notes from 2021 to 2025 about students’ readiness for school and their needs or complexities, along with a list of students receiving specialized assistance or supports. In some cases, the district says, the information included a student’s diagnosis or the degree of their needs. A “limited and smaller number” of cases involved stolen bus-routing information, student intervention records and other assessments.
The district says the impact on students, parents and guardians was “limited,” and that the “most sensitive information” remains secure. For staff, the information potentially stolen varies by individual, but information in personnel records was put at risk.
The district has notified Burnaby RCMP and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C. It says it offered students registration with TransUnion’s Fraud Alert Database on Wednesday. The service alerts creditors to potential fraud. The district said the offer does not mean all students face a high risk associated with their information; it was made out of an abundance of caution and to support all families.
The district is asking members of the Burnaby school community to remain vigilant and use caution if they receive suspicious emails, texts or phone calls.