School officials address computer security issue

Friday, November 15, 2013

Rumors circulating Friday afternoon of Greencastle High School students hacking into the permanent records of their fellow students are likely greatly exaggerated.

However, Greencastle Community Schools Superintendent Dawn Puckett says there was a security issue involving improper access by students, and a plan is already in place for dealing with the security breach.

Puckett notified GCSC parents of the issue late Friday afternoon with a recorded voice message.

"I am calling to ask for your patience as we work through a problem we've encountered at our school late this past week," Puckett said in the statement. "It seems a few high school students have gained access to some confidential student files through our school's network."

The superintendent assured parents that the students in question did not access the permanent records of other students or staff. Instead, they found a list of student network passwords.

"The only concern," Puckett continued, "is that the information accessed might potentially be used to falsely charge breakfast or lunch expenses to the wrong student or that another student might access the network through another student's account."

She told the Banner Graphic that the issue came to light after school on Thursday, with school officials working out a plan later that evening and into Friday to deal with the problem.

The first step, Puckett said, was to have staff members with access to the school's Harmony database change their passwords.

The changing of passwords will go further on Monday, as all students in grades three through 12 will change their logins for lunch accounts and network access.

"Our staff will be 'all hands on deck' to make the reset as smooth as possible on Monday," Puckett said.

The problem did not affect students in kindergarten through second grade.

Administrators and IT staff have also discussed how to prevent students from gaining this sort of access again.

"We have learned that we can improve our security from the student side and we have addressed that," Puckett said.

As for the action of the students, Puckett did not classify what they did as hacking, instead terming it "a misuse of their computer privileges."

"We are working to determine proper consequences for the offending students," she said in her statement.

Among these consequences will be revoking certain computer privileges.

Puckett closed her statement with a reassurance to parents.

"I apologize for the inconvenience," she said, "and want to assure you that these resets will not affect your ability to access grades on Harmony or pay into your child's lunch account."

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