August 30, 2019
Please Note: The district is preparing letters to notify affected parties. These will be sent via first-class mail.
Chenango Valley Central School District was recently notified of a data security incident that is believed to have occurred in or around November 2018. This incident involved the unauthorized access of Personally Identifiable Information from the AIMSWeb 1.0 system that has reportedly affected approximately 13,000 schools and universities nationwide. The incident involved approximately 2,000 Chenango Valley data records connected to the system.
AIMSweb is an assessment platform that many school districts use for reading and math to help determine student growth and appropriate intervention services. Pearson Clinical Assessment is the developer of AIMSWeb.
Chenango Valley holds a contract with the Central New York Regional Information Center (CNYRIC) who informed the district on August 29, 2019 that we had data affected by the breach. While this data incident occurred around November 2018, the information was from a testing administration that occurred at least three years ago with an earlier version of AIMSWeb.
According to officials, the student data that was potentially affected was limited to: First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, and a Student Information System Identification Number. Officials say data potentially affected of employees who were AIMSWeb users could include First Name, Last Name, and Work Email Address.
Chenango Valley is committed to investigating this incident and working with CNYRIC to make sure proper steps are taken to ensure that our data is protected and secure. Our own district systems have many controls in place to protect your child’s educational records, and please remember this breach was from an outside vendor. Additionally, we have also received assurances that Pearson has taken the necessary steps to mitigate the incident and is enhancing protections to guard against similar events.
While it is our understanding that there is no evidence that the information described above has been misused, Pearson is offering complimentary credit monitoring from Experian (a national credit monitoring company) for one year for affected individuals as a precautionary measure. Information on accessing this service will be provided through the letters sent to affected parties.
Please contact Director of Curriculum/Technology Sarah Latimer at (607) 762-6820 or
[email protected] with any questions you have regarding this incident and the district’s response.