The names and email addresses of parents and school staff from five primary schools and 122 secondary schools where students use iPads or Chromebooks as their Personal Learning Devices (PLD) were accessed during a data breach incident.

According to an Apr. 19 press release, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said mobile device management company Mobile Guardian notified them on Apr. 17 about an incident of unauthorised access into the company's user management portal in its headquarters.

The company's device management application (DMA), also called Mobile Guardian, is installed on students' PLDs to allow their parents to manage their device usage by restricting applications/websites and screen time, according to MOE.

Nevertheless, MOE stated its own DMA was not affected by the data breach and remains "safe for use".

Parents whose students use the iPad or Chromebook can continue to use the DMA as per usual, as Mobile Guardian's user management portal is "separate from MOE's DMA", and there is no evidence of unauthorised access into the MOE DMA.

Police report lodged

In response to the incident, MOE has expressed its concerns to the company and lodged a police report, adding:

"MOE and schools will notify all affected parents and teachers about the incident and advise them to remain vigilant of any phishing emails that may be sent to them."

Meanwhile, Mobile Guardian has implemented further security measures, such as implementing a lockdown of all its administrative accounts.

The company is also working with security experts to further investigate the incident, said MOE.

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