Digital student info nabbed from school district

Page Last Updated: Tuesday April 6, 2010 11:01am PDT

A small flash drive or "thumb" drive can store a vast amount of information. The device pictured is not one of the devices stolen from the WCSD.

Two digital devices with thousands of student's information stored on them were stolen recently during a burglary at a Washoe County School District office.

Those flash drives contained information for about 26,000 district students.

One parent says when they found out about the theft, they wondered if the identities of their children could be stolen.

District officials say the only information on the devices is the student's names, their dates of birth and the location where their health records are stored. No social security numbers or health records were stored on them, and according to the district, the risk of any personal identity theft is very low.

When asked if he had idea why someone would steal the flash drives, Spokesman Steve Mulvenon said, "No, its a real mystery. You would think there are a lot more interesting, or more profitable items they could have gotten away with so we're at a loss."

No arrests have been made in the case. The district did sent out letters to parents of all the 26,000 students as a precaution.

Mulvenon said there is a new policy in place because of this case -- from now on the school district will make sure all information on any flash drives is encrypted so it is not accessible if it does end up in the wrong hands.

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