Photo: Stock photo - Pexels

School District 67 has provided an update on a cyber security incident last month, confirming to district community members that personal information of students may have been accessed, specifically limited to recent years.

On Feb. 13, the district, which operates in Penticton and Summerland, said they detected some unusual activity in their information systems. What followed was a shutdown of key online services and an ongoing investigation.

On March 4, the district provided an update.

"In the course of our ongoing investigation, we have determined that personal information belonging to parents and students may have been subject to risk as a result of the incident," reads a letter from the SD67 Office of the Secretary-Treasurer dated March 4.

"The impacted files appear to be limited to the period between 2022 and 2024."

The letter goes on to state that the following types of information may have been accessed:

• Student files, including name, contact information and date of birth
• Student report cards
• Enrolment information, including student name, school, provincial education number
• Student assessments that may contain some health information
• Standardized test results
• Information about students enrolled in childcare
• Attendance records and bus lists
• Medicine and medical alert lists
• Student discipline/suspension files and letters
• Student photos and class lists

"Although we have no reports or other evidence that any of this information has been used for fraudulent purposes, we want you to be aware of the situation, including the steps we are taking to address this issue and the precautions that we recommend you take to protect your personal information," reads the letter.

SD67 is urging parents and students to take precautions to protect themselves as their investigation continues and they work on returning to full operations.

These precaution recommendations include:

• Not responding to unusual emails or text messages from the school district unless certain they are authentic
• Not responding to unsolicited requests for personal or financial information
• Monitoring financial and other accounts for any unusual activity
• Changing your password to any personal accounts accessed from the school district systems.

"We regret any concern or inconvenience the incident may have caused," the letter adds.

Anyone with questions or concerns can contact [email protected].

RCMP and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner are involved in the investigation of the original incident.