Buena Vista Horace Mann student data accidentally shared with BVHM community members

• The exposed information includes students’ names, identification numbers, usernames and default passwords for SFUSD systems and tools.
• The school has requested the students’ parents to educate their children about the importance of securing their passwords.

A Buena Vista Horace Mann staff member accidentally shared current and former student data with some of the BVHM community members. This led to BVHM community members gaining access to student information for almost 2 hours.

What information was involved?

• The exposed information includes students’ names, identification numbers, usernames and default passwords for SFUSD systems and tools.
• The information shared also includes SFUSD email, student portal, and digital learning applications.

What was the immediate action taken?

• Upon learning the incident, BVHM contacted SFUSD Department of Technology for assistance.
• The school has changed the passwords for all the impacted students.
• It has notified the BVHM community members about the incident.
• BVHM has conducted investigations on the incident and is currently evaluating precautionary measures to secure the information of the impacted students.

The school has further requested the students’ parents to educate their children about the importance of securing their passwords.

“This data breach was a mistake made by an adult staff member; however, it is helpful to discuss online privacy with your children. Passwords should be kept confidential. In SFUSD, each student is assigned a unique, default password that only the student, you, and their teacher should be able to access,” the security notice read.