Queensland schools have been caught in a cybersecurity breach that is expected to impact 200 million people globally.
Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said student and staff names, email addresses and school locations had been compromised.
So far there was no evidence of passwords, dates of birth or financial information being accessed in the data breach.
“I have been briefed by the Department of Education about an international cybersecurity breach involving a third-party provider, Instructure, which delivers the Department’s online learning platform, QLearn,” Mr Langbroek said.
“This incident has impacted thousands of educational institutions, including state schools and universities within Queensland, across Australia and overseas.
“Early advice is this will impact more than 200 million people and more than 9000 institutions worldwide.”
Mr Langbroek said it appeared that students and staff working or studying at Education Queensland schools since 2020 had been affected.
“School principals are in the process of contacting families and teachers to advise them of the breach,” he said.
“The Department of Education is providing priority support to families and teachers with known family and domestic violence, or those known to Child Safety.”
