You may have seen in the local media that Australian based company Mathspace has been the target of a data breach.
It has been reported that more than a million people, including students, school staff and parents have been affected when their system was attacked between August 10 and August 27.
Burnside High School can confirm that we have not been affected by this situation. We understand that Mathspace offers both a paid subscription and a free version – we have not used or recommended this product to our staff or students.
However, because Mathspace offers a free version, we strongly recommend that any student, parent, or staff member who may have created an independent account using a personal or school email address checks their account security immediately. If you have used Mathspace in the past, we advise changing passwords on any other accounts that share the same login details.
We have determined as a school that it is important to share this information with you to ensure your peace of mind and reiterate that we take our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 seriously.
Mathspace has said they are: “truly sorry this happened and are taking steps to prevent similar breaches in the future. Protecting the information entrusted to us by students, families and schools is our responsibility.”
Mathspace confirmed a total of 1,079,819 people were affected in Australia and New Zealand and they are in the process of contacting individuals impacted directly.
Should any more pertinent information come to light regarding this data breach we will be in touch once more.
Ngā mihi nui
Scott Haines
Principal
