Arlington ISD personnel information affected by third-party national data breach

Arlington ISD schools were among the thousands nationwide faced with a data breach that included sensitive information such as Social Security numbers from a third-party data software company in August, according to a letter sent to some residents in late October obtained by the Arlington Report.

On Aug. 14, Frontline Education, a school administration software company, faced a breach from one of its third-party software products. A statement posted to the company’s website more than two months later said the breach was closed the day after.

Frontline Education hosts grade books, attendance records, and student and staff data for districts across the country, including Fort Worth and Lake Worth. Roughly 778,000 Texans were affected by the breach, according to a data breach notice posted to the Texas attorney general’s office website.

In a text message to the Report, Arlington ISD spokesperson Taina Northington said the district sent emails to the impacted staff members and families. 

The Report has requested clarification about whether student information was involved, as well as how many Arlington ISD students, staff or families were affected. 

Frontline told Waco ISD, which was also affected by the breach, that student information was not involved, The Waco Bridge reported last month.

Parents received notice on Oct. 26, the same day Frontline published its statement on its website.

“We promptly investigated the issue with the assistance of an independent cybersecurity firm, remediated the vulnerability, engaged with law enforcement, and took steps to further reinforce the security of our systems,” the letter reads. “We remain committed to protecting the security of our customers’ data and continuously strengthening our security practices.”

The statement on Frontline’s website states the possible information breached includes Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, other government IDs, Medicaid IDs and student IDs.

Those affected were offered a free 24-month membership to TransUnion credit monitoring. The company is one of three nationwide consumer report providers, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Frontline has also created a hotline to answer questions about the breach and the credit monitoring at 1-800-759-7279.

Though the Frontline statement was released on Oct. 26, reports surfaced about the breach in early October, after the company sent notification emails to its customers. 

At that time, other Tarrant County school districts acknowledged that they had been impacted by the breach. 

The Fort Worth and Crowley districts both confirmed they were affected by the breach at the time. Fort Worth ISD posted a statement to its website, and Crowley ISD sent an email to staff members.

Chris Moss is a reporter for the Arlington Report. Contact him at [email protected].

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