Repercussions Possible For ‘Human Error’ In Hellgate Data Breach [YouTube]
Human error was ultimately responsible for the data breach at Hellgate High School on December 4.
MCPS Superintendent Mark Thane said after a forensic examination by LMG Security, it was ascertained that Hellgate Assistant Principal Libby Oliver was responsible for the breach. According to his prepared remarks, Thane wrote:
'She intended to finalize a document containing an agenda and notes from a recent Hellgate Football meeting. Ms. Oliver’s email attachment included an additional 16 pages of documents, some of which contained private and confidential student and staff information.'
'The documents containing the confidential information were all stored locally on Ms. Oliver’s computer desktop and were unintentionally merged into the document containing the football meeting notes. Using an external hard drive, Ms. Oliver took this document to Ms. Lynn Farmer’s computer and attached it to the email sent to the parents on the Hellgate Football team contact list.
'In this data breach, records for approximately 1100 Hellgate students were released. The records included grade analysis reports, results of a reading assessment, Individualized Education Program meeting dates, a list of students participating in the Comprehensive School Community Treatment program and a list of students who have been tardy to class or had broken a school rule.'
'This incident was the result a failure to follow best practices by members of the administrative team at Hellgate High School. As a result, the District anticipates that disciplinary action will be taken.'
When asked about the possible repercussions to Assistant Principal Oliver, Thane said 'they run the full range, and we'll determine what the full consequences will be," he said.
Oliver was also involved in an incident involving what was described as an 'inappropriate relationship' with another administrator in December of 2014. She was later reassigned as Assistant Principal at Hellgate.