California Student Testing Data Breach: Information on 5.7 Million Currently Enrolled Students Exposed, Free Identity Protection Enrollment Open Until March 19, 2027
CALIFORNIA, November 2 — The California Department of Education said in a notice published in October 2026 that an unauthorized person used a stolen login to enter a secure file transfer site run by ETS, the nonprofit that administers the state's standardized tests, and copied California student information at various times between May 22 and September 18, 2026. ETS discovered the unauthorized activity on September 25, the state made the breach public on October 16, and notices to families began going out that day and continue into early November.
According to the notice, those affected include current and former students enrolled in California public schools between 2023 and the current school year, as well as students who left a California school any time since 2006 without confirming a transfer to the state; information on all students enrolled in the three previous school years was accessed and copied. LAist reported that the breach exposed information on 5.7 million students now enrolled from transitional kindergarten through high school.
The copied information varies by student and may include name, date of birth, home address, school, grade level, student ID numbers, demographic information, disability and Section 504 status, testing accommodations, and state test registration, participation and results. The state said the files did not include Social Security numbers, driver's license or passport numbers, bank account or credit and debit card information, or passwords, and no parent or guardian information was involved. ETS said its web monitoring has found no evidence that the information has been made public.
ETS said it took the file site offline, disabled the account that was used and built a new site with stronger security; the California Department of Education and the State Board of Education are reviewing the incident and whether ETS met its data security and contract requirements. The enrollment method set out in the notice is: ETS is paying for 24 months of Experian IdentityWorks protection; a parent or guardian enrolls a student under 18 in the Minor Plus plan, and former students now 18 or older enroll themselves, by March 19, 2027, with no credit card needed; questions go to 833-931-8488, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific time, with engagement number B174774 for students under 18 and B174775 for students 18 and older; the full notice is posted on the California Department of Education website in 27 languages.
(Source: California Department of Education)
Source: California Department of Education
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺一所公立学校校门。 Entrance of a public school in Fresno, California. CC BY 4.0，图片来源：Wikimedia Commons。 CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
