PEARLAND – More than a decade of personal data was stolen from Pearland ISD, according to a letter that went out to parents, staff and students in the district last week.
“My son and my wife were notified about a breach at Pearland ISD,” Scott Munroe, a parent said.
The letter explained, in November 2022, the district became aware of unusual activity in their network. They hired cybersecurity experts and five months later in April, they learned the following information was compromised: name, date of birth, address, Social Security number, driver’s license or state identification number, financial account information, username and password to an online account, payment card details, health insurance information, and/or medical information.
The letter goes on to explain the district spent a month identifying those who were potentially impacted and setting up complimentary services, though they said they have no evidence the information was misused. Students, staff and parents like Munroe weren’t notified until June 5.
“We don’t know what happened between then and now,” he said.
Pearland ISD said in a letter to parents they are providing 12 months of credit and identity protection services for those directly impacted.
“This is a forever thing unfortunately,” Ian Marlow, the CEO of Fitech said.
Fitech is a cyber security and tech firm, helping clients around the world.
“If you are part of a breach, what you want to do is, first, lock your credit,” Marlow said. “The second is make sure multi-factor authentication is turned on your different devices, the third is proactively change your passwords.”
Another option is putting a fraud alert on your account, which is free and lasts for one year.
“I think the people that are affected should get together and find out what they can do for the future for their kids,” Munroe said.
Pearland ISD has also established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident. Call center representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Central Time, and can be reached at (888) 220-5217.