FTC schools edtech outfit after intruder walked off with 10M student records

US edtech provider Illuminate Education just got dinged by the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly failing to keep an attacker from pilfering data on 10 million students. The FTC has demanded changes from the company, but did not issue any fines or criminal charges, after an incident in late December 2021 in which a …

[Aladdin Sane]

How about 1 kick to the crotch per exec for each item of data stolen? I'll be kind and count DOB as 1 item instead of counting day, month and year separately.

[Doctor Syntax]

"The FTC's action underscores a broader warning"

Broader but shallow. You'll get a stern talking to bu no penalties, so carry on.

[Paul Herber]

Lucky this is the USA because in the UK there could be a finger-wagging and a tut-tutting,

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

It is shocking that this data was leaked for free - reducing its commercial value to shareholders

[Anonymous Coward]

Fear not. There will be a shareholder lawsuit coming soon, and substantial penalties - which will have to come from wherever the money comes from (school districts)

[Homo.Sapien.Floridanus]

Will the last horse to leave please close the barn door…

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

I blame the parents

This data is only valuable because it contained the children's name

In my simple and elegant proposal - all children are incrementally numbered at birth.

A hacker stealing this data would in future only have the integers n -> n+m which is hardly a revelation

[An_Old_Dog]

Re: I blame the parents

I would use a hashing algorithm so my childrens' names would be monotonically-increasing, but not be adjacent values.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: I blame the parents

You wish to prevent anyone using "German Tank Wheels" to determine how many offspring were spawned?

[Aladdin Sane]

Re: I blame the parents

Surely we could be more creative and do some sort of Bobby Tables attack on the hackers?

[ecofeco]

Oh how I never get tired of saying it

So, how's that cloud thing working for you?

[drankinatty]

Really 10M Student's (children's) data exposed -- and no fine?

Talk about a toothless wonder. The FTC not levying a fine when data on 10M students is pilfered in plain text is baffling. Almost like crypto changed wallets somewhere to buy leniency. Sad when you have to question the motivation of acts supposedly taken in your name. The fish truly rots from the head down.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Really 10M Student's (children's) data exposed -- and no fine?

You can't have a Federal agency criticising the free market