Blackburn High School

Blackburn High School is a secondary educational institution located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It provides schooling to adolescent students, delivering the curriculum set by the state education authority. The school offers academic instruction across a range of subjects and supports student development through various programs. As part of the Victorian education system, it operates under the oversight of the state education authority. Its primary mission is to educate and prepare young people for further study, employment, and civic participation.

In May 2017, Blackburn High School was the target of a targeted cyberattack that resulted in unauthorized access to sensitive personal information. The breach exposed family phone numbers, residential addresses, Medicare details, and student records, which were subsequently posted on file‑sharing websites. Attackers also sent phishing emails that impersonated the school principal to solicit credit‑card information from parents, with some recipients complying. Following the incident, the school collaborated with law enforcement and IT specialists to locate and remove the exposed data and to establish support services for affected families. The attack occurred shortly after another privacy lapse within the same education department involving unredacted student medical records and bullying reports. Both incidents illustrate how trusted educational institutions can be exploited by scammers seeking financial and personal data.