Students Offered Identity Protection Services
Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is offering free identity protection services to students and former students whose personal information may have been compromised in a data security incident.
Although an investigation has determined that no financial information was affected, the incident could involve some personal information in FLVS school records, including students’ names, dates of birth, school account usernames and passwords, physical school identification, as well as parents’ names and parent emails. Our investigation, while ongoing, estimates that approximately 368,000 students were potentially impacted by the incident.
FLVS learned of a possible breach on February 12, 2018. An immediate comprehensive IT security investigation was initiated and an independent forensic cybersecurity investigation firm was hired to assess the scope of the breach and take action to prevent a reoccurrence. FLVS also contacted Leon County Schools and notified the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
FLVS is continuing its internal investigation and is fully cooperating with law enforcement agencies as they seek to apprehend those responsible for this crime.
FLVS takes its obligation to protect the privacy of personal information very seriously and deeply regrets this incident. To reduce the risk that any student information could be misused for identity theft, FLVS is offering potentially impacted students one year of identity protection services through Experian, a leading identity monitoring services company, at no cost. These services help detect possible misuse of personal information and protect against identity theft.
The offer is available to students whose information was in the FLVS database from May 2, 2016 to February 12, 2016, when this incident occurred. Qualifying students or their parents should can learn more and signup for identity protection services at this website experianidworks.com/FLVS or by calling (888) 829-6553. Students should reference engagement number DB05741.
The security incident also included the personal information of approximately 1,867 teachers. Potentially impacted teachers and school staff are being contacted by FLVS individually.
We sincerely apologize for this incident and regret any inconvenience this incident may have caused.
The Following information in located on the FLVS website and is available for potentially impacted Students and Their Parents:
Florida Virtual School (FLVS) recently learned of a potential data security incident involving certain information provided to us by students and parents. We are providing this notice as a precaution to inform potentially affected individuals about the incident and to call your attention to some steps you can take to help protect yourself. We sincerely regret any concern this may cause you.
FLVS learned that unauthorized individuals appear to have gained access to some of our computer systems that stored personal information relating to certain students, parents of students, and Leon County Schools’ teachers. Although the investigation is still ongoing, based on what we have learned to date, we believe that this incident could affect information in FLVS school records, including but not limited to students’ names, dates of birth, school account usernames and passwords, physical school identification, as well as parents’ names and parent emails. We have not identified any evidence that any student or parent Social Security numbers or financial account information were affected. Please note, currently, we are not aware of any fraud or misuse of your information as a result of this incident.
The security incident may also affect a limited number of Leon County Schools’ teachers, where the teachers’ name, Social Security number, date of birth, address, phone number, cell phone number, emergency contact, spouse’s name, personal email address, work email address, and certain demographic information, may have been accessed by unauthorized persons. These teachers are being directly notified by individual notice by Leon County Schools and FLVS is coordinating and cooperating with Leon County Schools in these efforts.
FLVS takes its obligation to protect the privacy of personal information very seriously and deeply regrets this incident. After FLVS learned of this incident, we immediately initiated a comprehensive IT security investigation and hired an independent forensic cybersecurity investigation firm to assist in our investigation and response. FLVS also contacted Leon County Public Schools and notified the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and we will continue to cooperate with the law enforcement investigations.
As a precaution and to reduce the risk that any student information could be misused, FLVS is offering potentially impacted students one year of identity protection services through Experian, a leading identity monitoring services company, at no cost. These services help detect possible misuse of personal information and protect against identity theft. The offer is available to students whose information was in the FLVS database from May 2, 2016 to February 12, 2018. Qualifying students or their parents can learn more and if impacted by the incident, can sign up for identity protection services at this website experianidworks.com/FLVS or by calling Experian at (888) 829-6553 and referencing engagement number DB05741. For more information about these services, please see the “Information about Identity Theft Protection” reference guide, included below, which also describes additional steps that you may wish to take to help protect yourself, including recommendations by the Federal Trade Commission regarding identity theft protection and details on placing a fraud alert or a security freeze on your credit file.
For more information about this incident, or if you have additional questions or concerns, you may contact our dedicated call center directly at (888) 829-6553 between the hours of Monday through Friday – 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. EST, and Saturday and Sunday – 11:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST. Again, we sincerely regret any concern this incident may cause you.
About FLVS
Florida Virtual School is an established leader in developing and providing virtual K-12 education solutions to students all over Florida, the U.S. and the world. A nationally recognized e-Learning model and recipient of numerous awards, FLVS was founded in 1997 and was the country’s first, state-wide Internet-based public high school. Today, FLVS serves students in grades K-12 and provides a variety of custom solutions for schools and districts to meet student needs.
