Cyber Incident Victim: School District 42 Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows
Date:
Jan 2023
Location:
Canada
Summary
A British Columbia school district experienced a data breach resulting in unauthorized access and public release of over 19,000 personal records belonging to students and staff. The compromised information included individuals' first and last names, associated schools or departments, email addresses, and students' grade levels, exposing sensitive educational and contact details. School District 42 Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows confirmed the incident, which impacted both student and staff populations within its jurisdiction.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On January 17, 2023, School District 42 Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows in British Columbia publicly disclosed a significant privacy breach involving unauthorized access to personal records. The incident occurred the same afternoon, resulting in the public release of 19,126 records belonging to students and staff across the district. Exposed information included individuals’ first and last names, associated schools or departments, email addresses, and—for students—their grade levels. The district confirmed the scale of the breach in an official statement released that Wednesday, though it did not specify the exact duration of unauthorized access or the method by which the records were compromised. No financial data, health information, or government-issued identifiers were mentioned among the compromised records. The disclosure did not identify whether the breach originated from external attackers, internal errors, or third-party systems.
The immediate impact centered on the exposure of identifiable personal information, creating privacy risks for thousands of students and employees across Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows educational institutions. School District 42’s public acknowledgment constituted its primary documented response action on the day of discovery, with no additional details provided regarding technical containment measures, forensic investigations, or law enforcement involvement. The district did not disclose whether affected individuals received direct notifications or support services such as credit monitoring. The breach’s consequences included potential misuse of email addresses for phishing campaigns and the exposure of minors’ academic affiliations and grade levels, raising concerns about targeted harassment or social engineering. The incident marked one of the largest publicly reported educational data breaches in British Columbia for early 2023, affecting a broad cross-section of the district’s community without distinction between student and staff records in the released figures.