Dexter School District reports financial data hacked

DEXTER, Mo. -- The Dexter School District has reported a security breach dealing with school funds.

A two-line news release sent out Wednesday by Dexter Police Department Lt. Trevor Pulley said only that a complaint had been filed "to report that money was missing externally."

In a statement Thursday morning, district superintendent Dr. Thomas Sharp said there is "no evidence to indicate any corruption of the school district's database, indicating the breach comes within the banking industry."

Sharp said the district's technology personnel have not detected any breach of the district's firewalls.

Local police reiterate that statement, stressing the breach came "externally" and not within the Dexter school system.

The amount of funds stolen through hacking has not been released due to security concerns. Sharp said Thursday that about one-third of the funds that were "stolen by means of a falsified electronic transfer request created by an outside source" have been retrieved.

"These hackers have no connection with anyone employed by Dexter public schools," Sharp said. "The district expects eventually to make a full recovery of all of the insured funds."

No banking facility has been named in relation to the hacking incident, either by police or school authorities

School employees have been notified by the school district's administration that "an unauthorized transaction by an outside online source occurred late afternoon on Wednesday, Aug. 17."

Employees were told the incident is under investigation and that the investigation is expected to take "considerable time" to complete. Administrators also told the staff, "The source of the infiltration is yet to be determined as well as the level of invasiveness that occurred. Employees' personal and financial information could have been jeopardized."

School staff whose paychecks are direct deposited were advised to closely monitor personal financial transactions and to "consider taking additional security measures such as, but not limited to, changes in logins, passwords, security questions and/or responses which authorize financial transactions to proceed."

Pertinent address:

Dexter, MO