The dangers of schools collecting student data come home to roost in Oldham County, Kentucky

The Courier-Journal reports that there has been a potentially significant data breach in the North Oldham County High School that exposed thousands of present and former students to possible identity theft.

A school cafeteria computer housing student names, social security numbers, addresses, telephone numbers and birth dates was hacked and this sensitive information could have been compromised. Adding even more concern – there is uncertainty about whether or not the data actually was compromised.

This real world example is bound to add more concern on the part of parents already worried about schools collecting a large amount of sensitive data about their children, and the parents too. This data is being shared with other agencies and even with private research firms, as well. The data is only as safe as the weakest link in this ever-growing chain of computers. Apparently, one of those weakest links lives in Oldham County Public Schools.

The Courier’s article contains information about actions that can be taken if your identity information is at risk. Oldham County Schools should be contacting you if your data is at risk, but it might pay to check with them if you or one of your children attended North Oldham High in recent years.