Over 93,000 people had their personal information compromised in a ransomware attack on the Highline School District last September. Who has your data?
by Stuart Jenner
This article is a follow up to the Burien.News story published April 3, 2025 about identity theft from the Highline School District. The original article includes personal information at risk and contact info for IDX, (ID Experts), a company that helps organizations dealing with identity theft.
I called the IDX help line shortly after the story was published, but before the news story in the Seattle Times reporting that over 93,000 people may be impacted by the cyberattack.
I asked the customer service agent if any members of our family of four were impacted. The rep said she would do some checking, then get back to me. I did hear back. The good news: the thieves did not obtain my social security number or any credit card info. The theft did include some student information, such as grades, class schedule, and date of birth. For parents, it may include date of birth.
Unknown: the make-up of the 93,000 people who are impacted. How many are students, teachers, other district employees, or parents? How about job seekers, retirees, or maybe even vendors? How many years back does the data go? In fairness, this information may be very hard to obtain, but it also means many people beyond the school walls may be affected.
Maybe a more important question: “How many people had their social security number stolen?” This is critical because that number is key for opening up new accounts. Significant challenges can occur, especially for students, because they may not find out for many years if their data has been stolen or misused.
Some advice going forward: if a data field is optional, leave it out. As I wrote a year ago, there are risks to districts asking too much information. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any bills that would roll this information gathering back or otherwise reduce the amount they collect.
It seems like the amount of info collected keeps increasing.
IDX makes its return calls from both 866 (toll free) and 608 (Madison WI) phone numbers. I do recommend calling the number provided to find out what information of you or your children was stolen from Highline.
The district encourages those who feel their information may have been impacted to contact IDX to enroll in the free identity protection services being offered by calling 1-877-758-1726, Monday through Friday from 6 am – 6 pm Pacific Time. Please note the deadline to enroll is July 2, 2025.
