MOORHEAD — It has been determined that a nationwide data breach impacting more than 13,000 schools and universities in the United States also affects students in Moorhead.
In August, it was announced that Fargo and West Fargo public schools were affected by a breach in a version of a data management platform called AIMSweb, which is owned by Pearson Clinical Assessment.
Since then, it has been determined that Moorhead schools were also affected by the breach, according to a letter sent to parents of Moorhead students by Dan Markert, executive director of information systems and instructional support for Moorhead Area Public Schools.
In the letter, Markert said Pearson has indicated there is no evidence any data accessed by the breach has been misused.
"You are being notified because student information associated with your student was included in the data breach," Markert wrote, adding: "The data contained in the file, as provided by Pearson, included student first name, last name and in some instances date of birth."
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Markert said that according to Pearson, no grade, assessment or other personally identifiable information was affected in the incident.
Similar information was previously sent to parents of students in Fargo and West Fargo.
Other school districts in the region affected by the breach include Bismarck Public Schools, which said about 18,000 of its students were affected.
Pearson Clinical Assessment is offering complimentary credit monitoring from Experian for people affected by the breach.
Parents can find more information on those services by calling 866-883-3309, or by emailing aimsweb1request@pearson.com.
In the email, individuals are asked to provide their name, a statement of the situation and whether they would like the credit monitoring information. They'll then receive an email with links and instructions on signing up.
