EXCLUSIVE: Police Concerned After Security Lapse At Main Line School
RADNOR Twp., Pa., (CBS) -- A CBS 3 Exclusive -- police are concerned after a security breach on the Main Line.
They say a Radnor Township school student accessed a file containing the personal information of 2,000 district employees -- and it went undiscovered for nearly six months.
Approximately 2,000 current and former employees, here in the Radnor School District, have now been notified, that their personal information on a secured district website was accessed by a middle school student logging on to a computer in a classroom. A letter, sent to the 2,000 workers by the school's superintendent, apologized, revealing, the file containing names, addresses, cell phone numbers, employee identification numbers and social security numbers was accessed by a middle school student.
"It has the potential to be very serious, obviously we're talking about 2,000 people with their personal information out there," Chief William Colarulo of Radnor Township Police said.
Chief Colarulo says his department was notified by school officials in early November. The letter stating, however, that the actual breach happened back in May or June, going undiscovered for five to six months until a middle school student came forward and notified school officials.
"That falls in the wrong hands, you're looking at a major headache for many people who could possibly have their identity compromised," Colarulo said.
The letter reveals: "After accessing the file, the student copied the file to a jump drive and emailed to it three other students. A district employee unintentionally left the file accessible after a transferring of data."
School officials say they have been assured by the students and their parents the emails have been deleted. Chief Colarulo saying as of now there are no reports of anyone's identity being used illegally.
"If the school district would like to us to conduct an investigation we will leave no stone unturned, it is up to them, we will be more than willing to help them, we have an excellent relationship with the Radnor School District," Colarulo said.
Responding to our inquiries, officials here at the Radnor School District says that this letter contains all of the information they're aware of. In the letter, they state that they immediately made major security improvements to prevent anything like this from happening again. Finally, CBS 3 has been told that there has been disciplinary action in the incident, but Radnor officials tell us they cannot reveal exactly what it was.
