Schools to check security of address database

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20000805-0010_1m5address.html

By Jill Spielvogel
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 5, 2000

ESCONDIDO -- Elementary school district officials will check computer
systems security after someone obtained the addresses of L.R. Green
parents and mailed them an anonymous letter containing allegations
about school staff.

The unsigned, 10-page letter and attachments recently were sent to
school trustees and apparently nearly all of the parents whose
children attend the 1,200-student, kindergarten-through-eighth-grade
school, district officials said. The letter alleges that defamatory
remarks were made against former Superintendent Nicols Retana and says
there was a campaign against him that led to his termination in May.

It isn't clear whether the addresses used in the mailing came from a
school database, and if so, how they were obtained, Acting
Superintendent Ron Guiles said.

The list's origin may be impossible to determine, but staff members
will examine whether the district has adequate security measures for
the computer systems where such address databases are stored, Guiles
said. School and district personnel must use passwords to gain access
to the system.

After the letters arrived, many parents called and said they were
concerned about how the sender obtained their addresses, Guiles said.

It is not the district's policy to release addresses of students and
staff, according to a board statement issued yesterday that apologized
to parents and staff members who may have been "inconvenienced."

The district will not take any formal action regarding allegations in
the letter because the school board has a policy of not investigating
anonymous complaints, trustee Joan Gardner said.

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