SOPPA, Hackers, and Student Privacy

Sometimes adults - as well intention their actions may be - just don't get it. Take for example the new changes to the Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA, Public Act 101-516) that require school districts in Illinois to post publicly, on their website, which third party vendors, government agencies, and whatnot they work with and what sensitive information is given to them about students.

Talk about a security issue. Let's tell the whole online world (including unethical hackers) exactly what information they can obtain about minors and who they can obtain it from by hacking third party vendors all in the name of transparency. As if there weren't enough news stories about schools being targeted by cyber criminals, I foresee there being a lot more attacks. Just this week, there was a news story in Washington about the uptake in the frequency of cyber attacks towards schools. Take a look:



Here is another story with advice on what you can do to protect your data and what to do if you feel your data has been breached:


In August of last year, Sean Gallagher reported that "According to Armor's data, schools have become the second-largest pool of ransomware victims-slightly behind local governments and closely followed by healthcare organizations."

Map of 2019 ransomware attacks provided by Armor on ARS Technica

Maybe politicians should be more concerned about supporting schools and school districts in protecting students' data instead of offering it up on a silver platter. More often than not, schools don't have the resources available to comply with the numerous student privacy laws and their amendments.