Sensitive personal information about millions of students is at risk because British Columbia’s Ministry of Education has misplaced a hard drive containing documents that were stored without a fundamental safety measure: data encryption, The Globe and Mail reports.
«There is no indication the information has been misused, but the data should have been encrypted for security reasons», Amrik Virk, the minister responsible for government data security said.
The serious security breach includes student records detailing not just exam results but in some cases custody orders and files documenting substance abuse and mental-health issues. In the wrong hands, B.C. government officials warned, the information could lead to identify theft, damaged reputations or threats to an individual’s employment opportunities.
