BRITISH COLUMBIA COMPUTER SERVER CONTAINING STUDENT DATA STOLEN FROM SCHOOL BCNG Portals Page: "By Jenn Marshall
The News Bulletin
Jan 09 2007

Private student information may be compromised after a computer server at Rock City elementary was stolen.

“At the time, one of our concerns was whether there was personal information on the server,” said Donna Reimer, Nanaimo school district spokeswoman, of the Dec. 9 theft.

Contained on the server was student and teacher work and some other work containing the personal information of some students, work irretrievably lost if not backed up on disk.

“We believe there was some class lists, some report cards and some photos of the students,” said Reimer.

“We’ve reported it to police, we have let the parents know about the situation and we will keep an eye out for what’s happening, but currently I don’t think there’s a lot more we can do unless police get some leads.”

A letter was sent out to parents following discovery of the theft, in accordance with the rules laid out in the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

However, Reimer said the school district does not believe the server was stolen for the information on it.

She said the computer was found a few days later near the school, with the CD-ROM and hard drive missing, fueling suspicions the computer was stolen for its parts.

But Reimer added, while the information is protected by a password system, a determined hacker could likely access it.

The school district absorbs the costs of about two or three break and enters per year where a computer is stolen, although she believes this is the first time a server has been stolen.

The theft is covered by insurance.

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