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Hackers steal 16,000 social security numbers in TUSD cyber attack according to Bloomberg

Confidential information on the dark web
TUSD
Posted

Bloomberg News reports that following the ransomware attack on Tucson Unified schools earlier in the year, thousands of current and former employees' personal information was uploaded to the dark web — and could still be accessed as of yesterday. That includes social security numbers and even medical records.

As we learned that TUSD had become the victim of ransomware, we saw a spate of similar stories across the United States. That includes schools in Nantucket, Baltimore and Dallas. Many of these are attributed to the same hacker group that the FBI has since warned Americans about.

During Bloomberg's investigation they reached out to TUSD spokeswoman Leslie Lenhart. She told them, "No instruction time was lost. School remained open throughout the event. Systems were safely restored and recovered."

Bloomberg's investigation, which they indicate has been underway since at least late March, found that more than 16,000 social security numbers and birth dates tied to employees both current and former were placed on the dark web.

Bloomberg's reportingand interviews show that following the late-January attack, teachers were mostly in the dark about what was happening. They were offered credit monitoring services but the district did not disclose the size of the data leak.

KGUN9 has reached out to TUSD for comment and will continue to investigate this matter. If you are a parent or teacher affected by the data leak and would like to tell your story or voice your concerns, you can email news@kgun9.com.

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Sean Newgent has been with KGUN9 since January of 2020 and is Good Morning Tucson's executive producer. He graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in broadcast journalism. He is a critic and cultural commentator. Share your story ideas and important issues with Sean by emailing sean.newgent@kgun9.com.

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