Hacker gets data on millions of California students, state education department says

Oct 16 (Reuters) — The California Department of Education said on Friday a hacker accessed the data of millions of students, including names, birth dates, addresses and disability status, by exploiting the system of a non-profit contractor that works with the state. The hacker accessed the data of "all students enrolled in the three previous school years," the department said. More than 5.7 million students were enrolled in California during the 2025-2026 school year, according to the department. The non-profit, Educational Testing Service, on Friday began notifying students and their families of the breach, which was identified late last month but found to have been ongoing since May, the education department said. The non-profit identified the breach involving a secure file transfer protocol site on September 25 and began an investigation, according to the California agency. "The investigation determined that an unauthorized party used a compromised login credential to access the site and copy files containing California student information at various times between May 22 and September 18, 2026," the education department said. Educational Testing Service has not found that any of