Schoenbar Middle School Data Breach (2013)

A ring of middle school students were able to gain access to and control of more than 300 computers by phishing for teacher administrative codes. At least 18 students were involved. The breach happened when students used software to imitate a legitimate software update on their computers. The students then asked teachers to enter administrative account information so that they could complete the software updates or installations. The phony software then stored teacher credentials. The students were then able to control 300 laptops belonging to other students by using the administrative credentials. The school believes that servers and sensitive information were not exposed. The breach occurred around Friday, April 26 and was discovered on Monday, April 29 when students noticed that other students appeared to be controlling student laptops remotely and reported the issue.