Information Technology

State Statute defines this information as "Student information" means personally identifiable information or material of a student in any media or format that is not publicly available and is any of the following: (A) Created or provided by a student or the parent or legal guardian of a student, to the operator in the course of the student, parent or legal guardian using the operator's Internet web site, online service or mobile application for school purposes, (B) created or provided by an employee or agent of a local or regional board of education to an operator for school purposes, or (C) gathered by an operator through the operation of the operator's Internet web site, online service or mobile application and identifies a student, including, but not limited to, information in the student's records or electronic mail account, first or last name, home address, telephone number, date of birth, electronic mail address, discipline records, test results, grades, evaluations, criminal records, medical records, health records, Social Security number, biometric information, disabilities, socioeconomic information, food purchases, political affiliations, religious affiliations, text messages, documents, student identifiers, search activity, photographs, voice recordings, survey responses or behavioral assessments."

Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology

 

Regarding Illuminate Education Inc. Data Breach

April 2022

Dear Parent/Guardian of eligible current and former students.

A former vendor of Region 15, Illuminate Education Inc. experienced a data breach to one of their data systems. Per the State of CT Public Act 16-189, the Region is informing families who may be impacted by this.

The company announced that the breach occurred sometime between December 28, 2021, and January 8, 2022 and may have exposed some student information. According to Illuminate Education Inc., the affected databases included information such as name, demographic and academic information for some current and former students enrolled during the 2017-2019 school years. It is also important to note that Region 15 has not been a client nor has uploaded any new student data since July 2019.

The Region has been informed that there is no evidence that any information has been the subject of actual or attempted misuse.  More importantly, no specific data from students’ individual education plans, financial information or social security numbers were stored in the system at the time of the breach so exposure to this sensitive data was not possible.

Region 15 Schools is working in partnership with Illuminate Education Inc. to help families affected by this incident. Affected families will receive a letter directly from Illuminate Education Inc. during the month of May 2022 detailing the extent of the breach along with an offer to provide free access to 12 months of identity monitoring services through IDX.

Student privacy is of the utmost importance, and the Region is therefore monitoring this incident closely and will keep families apprised if there are changes to the situation.

We are writing to inform you of a widescale, national cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, our Student Information System.

On Tuesday, January 7th, we were notified by PowerSchool that an unknown actor, using compromised credentials, gained access to and downloaded certain staff and student demographic information through the PowerSchool Customer Technical Support site back on December 22nd.

After learning of the breach to their system, Powerschool immediately launched a thorough internal investigation and took action to mitigate the incident.  We have been assured by PowerSchool that the breach has been contained and that all downloaded data has been deleted and that no other leaked copies exist.

We take the privacy and security of our students, staff, and families very seriously.  If you have any immediate concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Director of IT, Russ Sage either by email rsage@region15.org, or via phone 203-758-8259 x1025.

We are expected to have more details from PowerSchool on January 17 and will send updates and any next steps as needed.

Thank you for your understanding and partnership as we work through this together.

Russ Sage
Director of IT
Region 15 Schools
203-758-8259 x1025