Dear Parents, Guardians, Caregivers,
We wanted to share an important update about a cyber incident (ransomware) experienced by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). TDSB recently became aware that an unauthorized third party gained access to TDSB’s technology testing environment, which is a separate environment used by TDSB IT Services to test programs before they are run live on TDSB systems.
Our cybersecurity team promptly activated our response plan, taking immediate steps to secure and preserve data while safeguarding critical systems. TDSB systems are operational and have not been impacted. We have notified the Toronto Police Service and are working with third-party experts to assess the incident.
We are conducting a thorough investigation to understand the nature of the incident, any impact on our network, and if any personal information may have been affected by the incident. Out of an abundance of caution, we have notified the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. If it is determined that any personal information has been impacted, we will provide notice to all affected individuals.
We understand that news of a cyber incident is concerning, but please know that we are doing everything possible to learn more about what occurred and address this situation.
Given the ongoing investigation into what occurred, we are limited in the information that we can provide at this time, but should you have any questions, please contact cyberincident@tdsb.on.ca and we will do our best to answer as much as we can. In the meantime, we will continue to update the community as more information becomes available.
Sincerely,
Colleen Russell-Rawlins
Director of Education
Stacey Zucker
Associate Director