Hockley, Essex: sensitive data of dozens of Greensward Academy students was inadvertently placed online by a school professor via the free ‘Google Classroom’ web service.
Information on children’s eating habits, their addresses, economic conditions, degree of learning and special educational needs of some 11-year-olds has been made public, then available to parents and students of the same school after going online. of a fictitious exam program by a Greensward Academy professor.
When we are not dealing with cyber attacks caused by hacker groups, it is human error and lack of information and preparation regarding cyber security techniques that do harm to people who put their sensitive data in the hands of public and private educational institutions. .
In a statement made by a parent, who preferred to remain anonymous, we learn the strong regret for what happened
“It’s just unacceptable for this to happen. Some kids may not want other kids to know these things about them, as sadly, when it comes to things like free school meals, they might be teased or scorned.”
According to a student, he too wanted to remain anonymous, the document with sensitive data was published on the Google platform on January 17 and was removed only five days later.
The pupil also wanted to underline the fact that many students are experiencing moments of discomfort due to the publication of their names
“Children go around saying that other people are receiving benefits. Some of my friends are there and they don’t feel comfortable with other people knowing about their disabilities or that they are getting free meals.”
On Tuesday, the Greensward Academy sent a letter to the parents of the affected pupils, explaining the modalities of the cyber incident and details on the actions taken by the school to remedy the data loss.
Tom Gibbs-Digby, the institute’s educational support manager, said:
“At Greensward Academy we take the security of personal data very seriously and work seriously to make sure we are working in compliance with GDPR regulations to protect personal data.”
And God forbid we add.
A statement, released by Gibbs-Digby, which looks more like a ritual now similar to dozens and dozens already read in recent years after cyber attacks against educational institutions around the world.
It is probably the absurd and senseless conclusion of the statement made by the manager of the school that sees students and parents struck by the loss of their data even more despondent.
“The information was only visible to 11-year-old students and their parents / guardians who had registered with Greensward Academy and was not visible to other students, companies or outside organizations.
Fonte: Echo