Employee data leaked in Granite School District security breach

SALT LAKE CITY — Granite School District confirmed Tuesday it recently experienced a cyber security “incident” that compromised the “personal identifiable information” of employees.

The school district said it first notified employees and patrons on Oct. 18, and sent follow-up emails again on Nov. 20 and 22. The district said further communication would be sent out once it “confirmed all individuals” who had compromised information to offer them resources and support.

“As part of our ongoing investigation, we are just beginning to learn what types of personally identifiable information that was compromised as part of this incident,” the district said in a statement. “We have encouraged all employees to contact their financial institutions and respective credit bureaus to place a fraud alert or a freeze on their accounts.”

The district said its IT team was working with the Utah State Board of Education, the Utah Cyber Security Center, an external forensic cyber security team and even the FBI.

“We know this has caused enormous stress and frustration for our employees and patrons,” the district said. “We regret the actions of the threat actors and the extra burden this has placed on families leading up to the holiday season.”

It further mentioned school districts are increasingly becoming the targets of cyber security threats that have varied in scale, “shutting entire districts down for days in some instances.”

The district said it was working diligently to minimize the impact.