A furious mother fears her daughter’s personal information is in the hands of predators after hackers stole the details of all Victorian public school students in a major security breach affecting hundreds of thousands of children.
The Department of Education confirmed on Wednesday that an “external third-party” accessed a database containing the names, email addresses, passwords, school names and year levels of current and former students, but said there was no evidence the information had been released publicly or passed on.
Jane Agirtan, a councillor in the City of Kingston in Melbourne’s southeast, said the thought of her 10-year-old’s details being leaked “made her blood boil”.
“I am absolutely fuming. So angry I can barely speak. Just got an email from the school saying Department of Education databases were hacked – names, emails, passwords, the whole lot – meaning the details of every government school student have been compromised,” she said.
“So now some mysterious ‘third-party’ – probably a bunch of predators – knows your children’s names, ages and exactly which schools they attend. What could possibly go wrong?”
Ms Agirtan also shared a copy of the email she received on social media and wrote: “Sure, new passwords and no accountability for Department of Education failure and gross breach of privacy of minors?”
The department has not confirmed when the hack took place, but said the cyber thieves accessed the information through a school’s network.
“The safety and privacy of students is our top priority – we have identified the point of the breach and have put safeguards in place, including the temporary disabling of systems to ensure no further data is able to be accessed,” a Department of Education spokesperson said.
“Now we’re working with cyber experts, other government agencies and communicating with our schools to ensure this does not disrupt students when they start the 2026 school year.”
Opposition leader Jess Wilson said on Thursday the state Labor government needed to provide more answers.
“We need to understand from the government how many students’ information has been compromised, what is at risk, and can they guarantee it’s not in the hands of those who will misuse it,” she said.
Header image: Left Jane Agirtan (supplied). Right, the letter sent to parents (Instagram).
