Olympia School District

The Washington State Office of the Attorney General disclosed a data breach affecting Olympia School District on May 11, 2016, stemming from an incident on April 12, 2016. An unauthorized imposter successfully deceived an employee into disclosing sensitive information, compromising the personal data of approximately 2,145 residents. The exposed records included names, addresses, Social Security numbers (SSNs), and 2015 compensation details highly sensitive information that could facilitate identity theft, financial fraud, or targeted phishing attacks. The breach originated from a social engineering tactic, exploiting human error rather than technical vulnerabilities. While the exact motive remains undisclosed, the leaked SSNs and financial data elevate the risk of long-term harm to affected individuals, including potential credit damage, tax fraud, or unauthorized account access. The district’s failure to prevent the deception highlights gaps in employee training and verification protocols, underscoring broader concerns about public-sector cybersecurity preparedness. No ransomware or systemic outages were reported, but the incident underscores the severe consequences of internal data leaks via impersonation.

Source: https://www.atg.wa.gov/data-breach-notifications | https://data.wa.gov/resource/sb4j-ca4h.json?id=9622

TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/olympia-school-district-111

"id": "oly228082125",
"linkid": "olympia-school-district-111",
"type": "Breach",
"date": "6/2015",
"severity": "60",
"impact": "3",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with internal employee data leaks"

{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': '2,145 residents',
                        'industry': 'Education (K-12)',
                        'location': 'Olympia, Washington, USA',
                        'name': 'Olympia School District',
                        'type': 'Educational Institution'}],
 'attack_vector': 'Social Engineering (Impersonation)',
 'data_breach': {'data_exfiltration': 'Yes (data disclosed to imposter)',
                 'number_of_records_exposed': '2,145',
                 'personally_identifiable_information': ['Names',
                                                         'Addresses',
                                                         'Social Security '
                                                         'Numbers'],
                 'sensitivity_of_data': 'High (includes SSNs)',
                 'type_of_data_compromised': ['Personally Identifiable '
                                              'Information (PII)',
                                              'Employment Records']},
 'date_detected': '2016-04-12',
 'date_publicly_disclosed': '2016-05-11',
 'description': 'The Washington State Office of the Attorney General reported '
                'a data breach involving Olympia School District on May 11, '
                '2016. The incident occurred on April 12, 2016, due to '
                'unauthorized access whereby an imposter requested information '
                'from an employee, potentially affecting approximately 2,145 '
                'residents. The breached information included names, '
                'addresses, Social Security numbers, and 2015 compensation '
                'details.',
 'impact': {'brand_reputation_impact': 'Potential Reputation Damage (Data of '
                                       '2,145 residents exposed)',
            'data_compromised': ['Names',
                                 'Addresses',
                                 'Social Security Numbers',
                                 '2015 Compensation Details'],
            'identity_theft_risk': 'High (SSNs and personal data exposed)'},
 'initial_access_broker': {'entry_point': 'Social Engineering (Impersonation '
                                          'via employee communication)',
                           'high_value_targets': ['Employee handling sensitive '
                                                  'data']},
 'post_incident_analysis': {'root_causes': 'Human error (employee disclosed '
                                           'information to imposter)'},
 'references': [{'source': 'Washington State Office of the Attorney General'}],
 'regulatory_compliance': {'regulatory_notifications': 'Reported to Washington '
                                                       'State Office of the '
                                                       'Attorney General'},
 'response': {'communication_strategy': 'Public disclosure via Washington '
                                        'State Office of the Attorney General'},
 'threat_actor': 'Unknown Imposter',
 'title': 'Olympia School District Data Breach (2016)',
 'type': 'Data Breach',
 'vulnerability_exploited': 'Human Error (Unauthorized Information Disclosure)'}