Students Hack Into Chester Co. School District, Get Personal Info

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — Students hacked personal information from a Chester County school district last week in order to gain an advantage in water gun fights, authorities said.

Downingtown Area School District became aware of the hack on Oct. 11.

Hackers targeted student accounts through Naviance, a college and career resource website which contains personal information.

Apparently, the goal of the suspects was to obtain the home addresses of students in the lead up to the senior water games, a traditional water gun fight in which students participate.

"The consequences for these young individuals will likely be severe," the district said in a statement. "Cyber hacking is a federal crime and DASD is working with the proper authorities to determine the appropriate discipline and legal ramifications."

Some of the compromised information included student IDs, directory information, gender, ethnicity, GPA and SAT scores, and household relationship information, the district said.

No credit card or social security information was compromised.

Superintendent Emilie Lonardi called the breach "deeply disturbing."

"The highest priority is our students - their safety, their education and supporting their needs," she added. "DASD takes the responsibility to gather and store student and family information seriously. Modifications have and will continue to be made to our internal practices and the district plans to conduct internal training beyond the normal, ongoing training."

The investigation into the incident remains underway.