| Downingtown Area School District | |
|---|---|
Downingtown Delivers |
|
| Type and location | |
| Type | Public |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Country | United States |
| Location | 540 Trestle Place, Downingtown, PA 19335 |
| District Info | |
| Superintendent | Dr. Lawrence J. Mussoline, Ph.D. |
| Schools | 15 |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | About 14,000 |
| Other information | |
| Website | http://www.dasd.org/ |
The Downingtown Area School District is a school district based in Downingtown, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The district operates ten Elementary Schools, two Middle Schools and two High Schools, soon to be four. As of 2011, the district educates an average of 14,000 students.
Contents |
The district, located in central Chester County serves all of the following municipalities:
On Friday, May 9, 2008, the district learned a 15 year old student at Downingtown West High School had copied personal information and Social Security numbers of school employees, students, and community members. The minor, whose name cannot be disclosed, allegedly shared this sensitive data with other students. Over 56,000 Social Security numbers and other personal information were retrieved from an unencrypted, unsecured file on a district server and copied to a flash drive. The student was apprehended by Downingtown Police on May 21, 2008 and was charged with: Theft by Unlawful Taking or Disposition (Misdemeanor), Computer Theft (Felony), Unlawful Duplication (Felony), and Computer Trespass (Felony).[1]
Less than 6 months prior to the 2008 breach, a 16 year old student used illegal hacking and password retrieval software to gain access to an encrypted file he had illegally downloaded. That student was arrested and charged with a felony.[2]
The district's technology department requested a complete overhaul of the active directory file structures dealing with login, password security and folder access permissions. The district hired CommSolutions for aforementioned process and Canon Business Solutions to virtualize the district’s datacenter. This process allegedly increased the district’s ability to better manage and monitor the 70 plus district servers. An additional third party company, SunGard Corp., originally performed an information security penetration analysis and vulnerability scanning service. The same company then performed additional network analysis. The district also revamped the internet filtering software by replacing it with a more powerful filtering software program.[3]
The district released a statement saying that if the new PA school budget is approved, then the district will lose $3,728,942 from state funding. The statement also discusses the $4,600,000 deficit already in place. Read more at http://dasd-sharepoint.dasd.org/District/Departments/Finance/budget/Pages/default.aspx.