YISD: Hanks High School counselor’s laptop stolen; contained sensitive student information

The Ysleta Independent School District said Friday a stolen laptop belonging to a school counselor contained sensitive student information like addresses, dates of birth, and social security numbers.

A Hanks High School counselor “accessed, downloaded, and saved Hanks High School student transcripts on a personal laptop in the process of performing professional work duties,” the district said.

The laptop was among several items stolen during a February 18, 2017 burglary of the counselor’s home. El Paso Police are investigating the burglary, district officials said.

“I hate to even say this, but the password was affixed on a strip of tape on the left hand corner of her personal computer,” YISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre said Friday.

The district said “student information may have been compromised, although preliminary reports show there has been no suspicious activity surrounding the sensitive information.”

YISD notified students and families in letters mailed home to parents this week.

The school district hired the Cypher Division of TCG Services, “which specializes in helping Texas school districts mitigate the risks associated with potentially compromised student information data.”

District officials said all Hanks High School students are now enrolled in a proactive identity-theft protection program called iLOCK360.

Coverage will be retroactive to Feb. 18, 2017 and will continue through at least December 2017 or “until YISD receives reasonable assurance student information has been secured.”

“This company will continue to monitor them until we’ve either learned that the information hasn’t been compromised or jeopardized, or as I said before, it could be an excess of 3 to 4 years before we have to release that suppor. And that’s only because the district cannot spend district money on a non-student,” De La Torre said.

YISD said iLOCK360’s coverage includes credit-monitoring, “as well as monitoring of Social Security numbers through a credit bureau.”