Waterloo school board says hackers accessed sensitive employee and student info

Over the weekend, the Waterloo Regional District School Board released further information about the cyberattack it suffered in early July.

The board discovered that it had been hacked on July 11, releasing details to the public over a week later.

The WRDSB said that some information about students, as well as personal information about current and past employees, was accessed by the hackers.

The board went on to say that investigators are still looking into exactly what student information was accessed and that it will provide further information as it becomes available.

The board said that the hackers managed to get into a restricted network drive which included payroll information including “names, birthdates, banking information, and social insurance numbers of all current and past employees dating back to 1970.”

The drive also had payment information for employees dating back to 1970.

The WRDSB also noted that that any data which had been taken as part of the cyberattack has been recovered.

“This cyber intrusion disrupted our operations, and WRDSB responded immediately by engaging cyber security experts and prioritizing a full return of our operational functions. It has been difficult, especially for staff, both those waiting on payments and records of employment and those who were working on resolving this issue,” stated chief communications officer Eusis Dougan-McKenzie.

The board said it is looking for options to strengthen security in the future.