Wilkinson County Schools Investigate Online Security Breach

IRWINTON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Wilkinson County officials say an online security breach led to an emergency dismissal for schools.

On Friday, Wilkinson County schools were released an hour early after officials learned of a “potential threat”.

According to authorities, a Wilkinson County student accessed the user names and passwords to PowerTeacher. PowerTeacher is a classroom management system used to store grades, demographics and personal information including social security numbers. The log-in information was posted on a website. Wilkinson County Sheriff Richard Chatman said after a few parents started receiving strange phone calls, law enforcement launched an investigation.

“One parent had their child’s personal information repeated to them over the phone,” Chatman says.

On Friday, the schools received more phone calls and emails but this time with a threatening tone. Superintendent Aaron Geter made the cautious call to send students home early.

“It wasn’t any specific information as to who had a bomb, what building had a bomb, there were some racial connotations to the email,” Geter said.

When parents learned there was a possible threat on campus, the caution turned to chaos.

“The chaotic part comes from people who don’t know what’s going on,” Chatman said.

The one thing Geter was trying to avoid.

“The one thing I didn’t want to do was create a panic with parents by putting out any misinformation,” Geter said.

The investigation into the security breach is still ongoing. Chatman says a laptop was seized from a Wilkinson County resident and it is believed a student is responsible. The school systems overall website was not breached. The Wilkinson County Information Technology Department is changing passwords and securing sites to avoid future problems.

“I am confident our schools are safe,” Chatman said, “But we have increased patrols at schools and we have a resource officer assigned to each school.”

Geter says he will update parents when he receives more information on the investigation.