August 26, 2019–9:44 a.m.
GORDON COUNTY SCHOOLS
Gordon County Schools was recently notified by Pearson Clinical Assessment that, in March 2019, they became aware that an unauthorized third party gained access to a set of data related to the AIMSweb 1.0 platform, an instructional product that is used by Gordon County Schools.
Pearson indicated that the company immediately launched a review, which included outside cybersecurity experts, to determine the nature and extent of any data potentially affected. Through this review, they believe this incident occurred in or around November 2018 for data collected.
The student data affected is limited to directory information, as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), including first and last name, and in some instances, date of birth and email address. The account administrator (staff) data affected may include first and last name, job title, work email and work address stored in the AIMSweb 1.0 platform. No grade or assessment information was affected in this incident, and the AIMSweb 1.0 platform does not contain Social Security numbers, credit card data, or other financial information.
Pearson has confirmed that the company has taken steps to secure the AIMSweb 1.0 platform and has determined that no other Pearson systems were affected. As a precautionary measure, Pearson is offering a year of free identity monitoring protection free of charge to any student or adult whose information was affected.
The impacted individuals potentially include students who were enrolled in grades K-5 between 2002-2018 and any employee who worked with AIMSweb 1.0 during that same timeframe. Gordon County Schools has made an attempt to contact each person who was impacted by letter to the last known address; however, if you feel you may have been impacted and would like more information on how to enroll in this service, visit the Gordon County Schools’ website at https://www.gcbe.org/Page/9643.
Any questions should be directed to Pearson Clinical Assessment at 866-883-3309 or email [email protected].
Earlier this month, Floyd County Schools reported a similar incident.
You can read that story here.
