Queensland State School Data Compromised in Global Cyberattack

More than five years of Queensland state school student and staff data has been compromised in a cyberattack on the Education Department’s online learning platform. A statement from Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the breach had potentially revealed names, email addresses and school locations for students and staff working or studying at Education Queensland schools since 2020.

That was when the former government introduced the online system. Langbroek said the Education Department had no evidence that passwords, dates of birth or financial information were accessed. The cybersecurity breach affected Instructure, a third-party educational technology company that provides the QLearn online learning management system used by the department.

Langbroek said the breach was global and was expected to affect up to 2 million people and 9000 institutions in total. Instructure owns Canvas, a learning management system also used by multiple Queensland universities including Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University and University of the Sunshine Coast.

UniSC released a statement confirming it was aware of a breach that had affected some Canvas user information. The Department of Education is contacting families and teachers, prioritising those with known family and domestic violence issues or those known to Child Safety.

“The Department of Education will continue to update Queenslanders as further information is available,” Langbroek said. Premier David Crisafulli said the department was seeking urgent information from Instructure after receiving a briefing alongside the minister.