Hackers copied data on California public school students from test contractor
Hackers copied data on California public school students from a state testing company, according to The Record. The stolen files hold names, birth dates, disability details and test scores. The state says no Social Security numbers or bank details were in the files.
A cyberattack on a testing contractor for California's Department of Education exposed sensitive information on every child enrolled in the state's public schools over the last three years, according to The Record, a cybersecurity news site from Recorded Future.
The contractor, Educational Testing Service, or ETS, runs the state's yearly student tests. An unauthorized person used a compromised login at various times from May 22 to September 18 to copy files from a site used to share test data with the state, according to the breach notice. ETS found the activity on September 25.
The copied files may include student names, birth dates, home addresses, schools and grade levels, according to the notice. They may also include race or ethnicity, primary language, country of origin, disability status, testing accommodations and test results. The data did not include Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, financial account information or passwords, and no parent information was involved, the notice says.
Those affected include current and former students enrolled between 2023 and this school year, The Record reported, plus some students who left a California school as far back as 2006. California public schools enrolled more than 5.7 million students in the 2025 school year.
ETS took the site offline and built a new one, the notice says. The state said ETS has found no evidence so far that the data has been made public. A state education spokesperson declined to explain what steps ETS took to limit that risk, The Record reported. ETS did not respond to the site's requests for comment.
The state began notifying families on October 16 and will continue through November. ETS is offering two years of free identity protection through Experian, with a sign-up deadline of March 19, 2027. State officials are reviewing whether ETS met its security and contract duties. No hacking group had claimed the attack as of Tuesday.
What we know: Files on California public school students were copied from an ETS site between May and September.
What we don't: Who was behind the attack. Only The Record has reported this so far; NewsHabit hasn't seen independent confirmation.
Where outlets agree The Record and the state's breach notice both say hackers copied student data from an ETS file-sharing site between May 22 and September 18.
Where they differ The Record reports that a state spokesperson wouldn't explain ETS's steps to limit the risk, and ETS hasn't responded to the site's questions.