Rutherford County Schools confirmed that the district’s recent network disruption involves cyber security concerns.
A third party made posts online pointing to a breach of employee data, the district said in a communications release.
“This morning, we were notified that the party believed to have caused the disruption has now made a post online claiming to have some employee personal data, and it appears some files were obtained pertaining to certain employees,” a district email sent to The Daily News Journal said.
“This claim is being fully investigated, and to the extent it is determined that any employee personal information was affected by this event, we will notify those employees who were affected in accordance with applicable law.”
The district has about 7,000 employees and contracted bus operators and substitute teachers serving an estimated 52,000 students attending 51 schools.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation recently confirmed that the TBI is assisting the school district with the cyber security issues.
District officials first learned about the network disruption Nov. 25 while schools were closed for Thanksgiving week.
“The school district has been working with national experts and law enforcement to fully investigate the matter, and that investigation is ongoing,” the statement from the district said.
“To our knowledge, there has been no posting of student personal data, and our investigation to date has not found that student personal data has been obtained from our student information computers.”The district’s schools will continue to operate normally and focus on the academic goals for students, the statement said.
“Our teams have worked diligently to restore those services, and most are back to full functionality using our backup and recovery procedures.”
District provides no initial details: TBI investigators assist Rutherford County Schools with network issue
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This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford County Schools confirms hacker claims to have employee data