The Monmouth County school district said the breach occurred “on or about” April 13, 2023. Subsequently, the district conducted an extensive forensic investigation and manual document review.
As a result of the investigation, on March 28 of this year, the district determined “that certain impacted files containing personal information may have been removed from its network by the unauthorized individual(s),” officials said.
School officials did not respond immediately Monday to a question of how many students were affected.
The district said it sent students potentially affected by the data breach notification letters on Friday with details about the incident, as well as information and resources to help them protect their information.
Shore Regional High School District is located in West Long Branch and has 573 students in grades 9-12, according to the latest state data.
The school district is not alone in confronting a cyber crime. Cyber attacks are becoming an increasingly common, and costly, hazard faced by local governments, medical centers and small businesses across the U.S., according to experts.
Earlier this year, Freehold Township had to cancel school due to a “cybersecurity event.” Tenafly Public Schools in 2022 even had to cancel some of its final exams after the district’s network was crippled in a similar attack.
Under a new law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last year, state agencies and other organizations like schools now report cyber attacks directly to the homeland security office.
Shore Regional High School District said that while it has no evidence any of the information was “misused,” it is offering complimentary identity monitoring and protection services for individuals whose social security numbers were involved in the incident.
Potentially affected students or anyone with further questions about the data breach may contact 888-387-8750, available Monday through Friday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m., excluding holidays.
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