WCS National ID Recovery Respond to Student Information
Breach- Press Release
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.”
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