Williamson County Schools, National ID Recovery
Respond to Student Information Breach-Press Release

July 18, 2008

Williamson County Schools and National ID Recovery (NIDR) have joined forces to take action in protecting the identities of students whose personal identification information was compromised when it was published to a personal web site last year. 

A school district employee, whose duties were to organize and analyze student data, mistakenly uploaded the information while transferring files to a personal web site during August 2007. The employee has resigned from his position. He was alerted to the exposure of the data by the non-profit watch-dog group, The Liberty Coalition, and he immediately took down the private website.  He failed to notify Williamson County Schools of this security breach, and officials were not alerted of the incident until June 26, 2008. 

To safeguard students against future identification breaches, Williamson County Schools is working with the Tennessee Department of Education to remove all students’ social security numbers from the school district’s information system, and identify each student with a Personal Identification Number (PIN). Effective immediately, no new student in Williamson County Schools will be required to provide social security numbers as part of the registration process, and a student PIN will be issued upon registration. 

In response to this incident, Williamson County Schools officials have partnered with National ID Recovery (NIDR) to offer one year of identity monitoring services to students whose social security numbers were exposed. NIDR will provide professional identity recovery services, complete with a personal recovery advocate, if identity fraud is suspected or found for any of the students affected by the information breach. Once a case is opened, it will continue until all issues are resolved, no matter how long it takes. 

The school district is offering identity monitoring for these students because it is an identity protection method that screens for irregularities in the use of personal information. This early warning system searches for many types of identity theft; it is not limited to credit. Identity monitoring is the best response to this breach because most of the individuals are minors, and should not have a credit file. 

Williamson County Schools is issuing a letter to parents of students affected by the breach. This explains details of the security breach and how to take advantage of the identity monitoring and restoration services offered by NIDR. Parents should receive this letter by July 23, 2008.  The information has been delayed in reaching families because district employees must match students’ names with valid addresses from a recreated list of those whose information was exposed. 

Parents of students enrolled in Williamson County schools are encouraged to visit www.wcs.edu for further details about the incident.  Aaron Titus, Information Privacy Director of the Liberty Coalition, wrote to the district’s legal counsel saying, “I just wanted to take a moment to commend Williamson County Schools for your recent Q&A document online.  It is, without a doubt, the most complete, factually accurate, and prudent explanation of a breach I have ever read from any organization which has suffered a breach of this nature”.  

Williamson County Schools consulted with NXG Strategies, LLC, a leading authority in the identity protection industry, to identify reliable providers of identity monitoring and fraud resolution services. NXG is a local company whose owners are parents of children enrolled in Williamson County Schools. NXG is endorsed by major corporations and associations, including the National Credit Reporting Association, Inc. (NCRA).  Managing partner Sally King donated her time helping the school district assemble important information. “Sally’s expertise has been invaluable to us as we worked through and continue to work through this situation,” said Williamson County Schools Communications Director Carol Birdsong. “Her efforts made it possible for us to proceed quickly and communicate effectively. She is greatly appreciated.”