LA Parents Sound Off After Cyberattack Leaves Students Vulnerable
Parents were not only concerned about immediate solutions, but also LAUSD鈥檚 willingness to protect families long term
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For Christie Pesicka, the Los Angeles Unified School District cyberattack hits home.
During in 2014, Pesicka was one of thousands of Sony Pictures employees that had their private information exposed in the midst of aggressive attacks by a North Korean hacker group.
Now, as a mom, Pesicka worries about protecting her son Jackson, a 1st grade Playa Vista Elementary School student, so history doesn鈥檛 repeat itself.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a kid, you won鈥檛 ever see a credit report and find out that there’s something on there until you go off to college,鈥� Pesicka said in an interview. 鈥淏y that time, somebody has had 15 years to rack up a bunch of different credit cards or properties or whatever else on your kid鈥檚 account鈥o that’s very concerning.鈥�
Like Pesicka, LAUSD parents have raised concerns about the district鈥檚 response to the cyberattack, ranging from long term data protection to how well a hotline 鈥� created to answer parents and staff questions 鈥� is working.
The public release of about 500 gigabytes of stolen district data was posted on the dark web Saturday by Vice Society, a Russian-speaking ransomware gang known to target school districts.
After the district and law enforcement analysts reviewed about two-thirds of the data, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho assured students, parents and employees that there is no reason for widespread concern.
鈥淭he release was actually more limited than what we had originally anticipated,鈥� Carvalho said in a Monday downplaying the damage done.
Carvalho said any exposed student data 鈥� including names, academic information and personal addresses 鈥� was between 2013 and 2016, insisting most middle and high school students during that period already graduated.
For now, Carvalho confirmed students who did have their data breached will be contacted and offered credit monitoring services.
But many parents were not convinced the superintendent鈥檚 response was enough to ease their concerns about the cyberattack.
When Pesicka鈥檚 private information was exposed, Sony offered her one year of credit monitoring. But she found out years later she had a stolen identity and social security number.
鈥淚 had three people working under my social security number and I had my identity compromised,鈥� Pesicka said in an interview. 鈥淎nybody who鈥檚 been through identity theft knows how difficult it is and how there鈥檚 not really a streamlined process or way to scrub your information.鈥�
Teresa Gaines, the mom of 2nd and 3rd grade students at Grand View Boulevard Elementary School, was troubled by Carvalho鈥檚 response because it didn鈥檛 provide the urgency she was hoping for.
鈥淪ome people don鈥檛 realize how serious this can be because what if five or ten years from now our kids go to college and all of a sudden they get denied entrance because of something that is not their fault鈥r somebody uses that data to cause issues that prevent them from getting into certain programs or denied work,鈥� Gaines said in an interview.
Gaines also said LAUSD should provide more targeted outreach to families through 鈥渢own halls鈥� and 鈥渋nformational webinars鈥� so parents could ask questions about the cyberattack.
She is particularly concerned by the release of psychological assessments, which Carvalho insisted did not happen during his press conference. However, the Los Angeles Times did find .
For Jenna Schwartz, the mom of a 7th grade student in North Hollywood, Carvalho鈥檚 response left her cautiously optimistic.
鈥淚f I find out I was impacted鈥ut it was just my child’s school photograph from 2013 and his attendance record, I don’t care as much,鈥� Schwartz said in an interview. 鈥淚f it was my social security number and bank information, those are two very different scenarios.鈥�
Carvalho pointed parents to the district鈥檚 hotline, available Monday through Friday and this weekend for additional questions or support on the cyberattack.
But parents reported long wait times, and limited hours and information when the hotline began earlier this week.
鈥淯nless you ask a question that fits into their script, they don’t really have a response,鈥� Pesicka said in an interview. 鈥淎nd even if you do, you’re getting a very robotic response.鈥�
In addition, Schwartz noted that she鈥檚 鈥渘ot sure what good the hotline is at this point other than sort of just to make people feel better.鈥�
After a request for comment, a spokesperson from LAUSD referred back to Carvalho鈥檚 statement on the cyberattack:
The hotline hours have been updated to weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and this weekend from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
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