Williamson County Schools Hit By Hackers; 33,000 Passwords Accessed

FRANKLIN, TN — Hackers accessing a classroom file-sharing service may have acquired more than 33,000 usernames, passwords and student email addresses from current and former Williamson County Schools' students, the district announced late Friday afternoon.

"On May 17, the district was alerted that Edmodo, a free classroom tool that allows students and teachers to share files and assignments, had been hacked. As a result, the Edmodo usernames, encrypted passwords and email addresses listed in Edmodo user accounts were acquired by an unauthorized third party. This affects approximately 33,000 current and former WCS students dating back to 2011," the district said in a statement.

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The district's technology staff "believe this breach poses minimal risk to students, staff and parents."

The district is changing all passwords, a process that should be complete on June 19, with new passwords available from school personnel June 20.

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