Arlington ISD has notified affected staff members and families about a national data breach involving Frontline Education, a company that provides administrative software to schools. A letter sent to some residents in late October and obtained by the Arlington Report said sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, was involved.
The breach occurred Aug. 14 through a third-party software product used by Frontline. In a statement published more than two months afterward, the company said the breach had been closed the following day. A notice on the Texas attorney general’s website put the number of Texans affected at roughly 778,000.
Frontline’s services include hosting grade books, attendance records and information about students and staff for school districts nationwide. Fort Worth and Lake Worth are among the districts that use its software. Arlington schools were among thousands across the country affected by the incident.
Arlington ISD spokesperson Taina Northington told the Report by text message that the district had emailed affected employees and families. The Report has sought clarification on whether Arlington student information was involved and how many students, staff members or families were affected. Those details remained unresolved in the report.
Waco ISD was also affected. Frontline told that district that student information was not involved, The Waco Bridge reported in October. For the breach overall, however, Frontline’s website listed student IDs among the information potentially exposed, along with Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, other government identification and Medicaid IDs.
Parents received notification Oct. 26, the date Frontline published its website statement. In its letter, the company said it had investigated with help from an independent cybersecurity firm, corrected the vulnerability, engaged with law enforcement and taken additional steps to strengthen its systems’ security.
People affected by the breach were offered 24 months of free credit monitoring through TransUnion. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau identifies TransUnion as one of three nationwide consumer reporting providers. Frontline also established a telephone line, 1-800-759-7279, for questions about the incident and the monitoring service.
Public reports of the breach began appearing in early October, following notification emails Frontline sent to customers. Fort Worth ISD and Crowley ISD both confirmed at that time that they had been affected. Fort Worth posted a statement on its website, while Crowley notified staff by email.
