'Technical error' shares log-in information of hundreds of students attending online classes with TVO

A woman uses her computer keyboard to type while surfing the internet in North Vancouver, B.C., on December 19, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Hundreds of students who attend an online high school operated by TVO are being asked to change their passwords after a “technical error” last week led to their personal log-in information being leaked to other students.

Students who attend TVO ILC (formerly known as the Independent Learning Centre) contacted CTV News Toronto about the breach, sharing emails that detailed the name, course and login information of another student. The emails were titled “you’re getting closer to the finish line.”

TVO’s Director of Communication confirmed the emails were sent on Jan. 6 as a result of a “technical error” by a third-party service provider.

“As a result, certain students had information such as their name and login credentials exposed to another student,” Lsan Tzadu said in a statement.

“As soon as we became aware of the exposure, we immediately restricted access to the system for all users while we investigated the problem and implemented protocols to reset login credentials.”

Tzadu said the broadcaster immediately informed the Ministry of Education and Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner about the breaks.

TVO ILC offers more than 144 online courses to over 20,000 students across 72 school boards in Ontario. It is not clear exactly how many people were impacted by the technical error, but Tzadu said it was at least “several hundreds.”

Impacted students were notified of the breach in an email and told that if their password information was sent out, they will receive a notification to reset their login credentials. They were also urged to delete the erroneous email and clear their deleted messages.

TVO would not confirm to CTV News Toronto which third-party service provider was involved in the breach. There was no privacy breach or mass leak of information, Tzadu said, and all accounts have been secured.

Tzadu added this was an “isolated incident” and the system was back in operation the same day it was disrupted.

“We take the privacy of your students and all individuals very seriously, and are working with our service provider to further investigate the incident and to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Tzadu said.

“We are continuing outreach and support activities to affected students to ensure their learning is not disrupted.”