CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — The Sweetwater Union High School District officials said they are investigating an incident that has forced them to shut down access to some systems, including internet and email.
The superintendent sent the following email to parents Monday night, alerting them of the situation.
Dear Sweetwater Parents and Guardians:
On February 12, 2023, we became aware of an incident that has impacted the availability of certain systems, including email, within our network. We immediately launched an investigation. As part of that investigation, we will be shutting down internet access to certain of our systems. You will still be able to access some Sweetwater applications from systems not connected to our network, such as home computers or other personal devices connected to the internet at home or outside of the school district buildings. We understand this will be inconvenient, but we are focused on securely restoring our systems as quickly and as safely as possible. We are working quickly to determine what occurred in addition to restoring services. While our investigation is in the early stages, to the extent the investigation determines that any individuals' personal information was accessed or acquired, we will communicate directly with those individuals. We appreciate your support during this challenging time.
While the pandemic has increased our overall reliance on technology, we will continue to be proactive and to consult with top public and private sector technology and cyber-security professionals to ensure we continue to be at the forefront of any necessary changes. These actions are necessary to ensure an excellent educational experience for all of our students, as well as our staff and the community.
Sincerely,
Dr. Moises Aguirre
Superintendent
ABC 10News asked the district if the outage was a data breach and if any information of students staff and families were compromised. The district was also asked how many people were affected and how long the systems would be down.
Those questions were not addressed in the district's response.
A source said SUHSD faculty meetings were either postponed or moved; Outlook was also down, leaving staff unable to receive emails.
