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On Friday March 7th CPS schools informed students and parents that there had been a breach in data security. This incident notably occurred on February 8th. Over 700,000 students going back to the 2017-18 school year were impacted by the attack. Any student who received a data breach letter or email was affected.

Initially there were concerns that social security information may have been accessed, however CPS has since stated that this information was not accessed. 

CPS stated that the following information was accessed: “students’ names, date of birth, gender, and Chicago Public Schools student ID number. For students who are enrolled in the federal Medicaid program, students’ Medicaid ID number and dates of program eligibility were also exposed.”

The breach stemmed from a vendor company: Cleo, a file transfer software service which CPS implemented. The cyberattackers gained access to students’ information by hacking one of the servers used by the company to store student data.

(Image credit: Creative Commons)

Ultimately no financial or social security information was accessed, but people should know that students’ private information is now public. CPS encourages students and families to stay on the lookout for identity theft. The fact that a student’s information has been compromised does indeed increase the risk of identity theft in the future.

CPS has since contacted the FBI and the state attorney general. They want answers regarding the incident just as much as students. As this involves both CPS and third party vendor Cleo, there are also questions about which party is liable. The possibility of financial compensation for affected students is being looked into by Levi Korsinsky LLP, a New York based law firm. This is a developing story and information regarding compensations will be more clear in the near future.

Any fraudulent activity regarding students’ information on the CPS end can be viewed through: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action.  

For additional information visit:

https://www.cps.edu/about/policies/student-online-personal-protection-act/breach-notifications/

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-public-schools-data-breach-what-you-need-to-know/

https://wgnradio.com/bob-sirott/what-to-know-about-the-cps-data-breach/

https://www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/03/07/cps-student-data-exposed-in-hacker-attack/

https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2025/03/08/cps-data-breach-security-technology