Sensitive tax information belonging to employees of Abernathy Independent School District was leaked last week after the district was hit with a phishing scam.
Superintendent Dr. Glen Teal, Ed.D. said employees’ W-2 information was released in the breach. He said other district statewide and around the nation have also fallen victim.
“One of our staff members who has access to confidential information received a phishing email that appeared to be from an official internal source,” Teal said in a phone conversation.
Abernathy ISD officials declined an interview request, but Teal stated that a district employee responded to that phishing email with employee information.
Teal said social security numbers were released, as well as addresses and some other personal information.
He said the situation was immediately reported to the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state taxing authorities.
“We notified staff immediately that this has occurred,” Teal added.
He mentioned that through the district’s insurance company, employees will be offered additional identity theft services, free for a year.
Teal said the perpetrator’s email account was ultimately not from Abernathy ISD, and he was unsure of how far-reaching the information was distributed.
“We’re trying to put this behind us,” Teal said in a follow up phone conversation. “It happened to us and we attacked this thing from day one since it occurred.”
He said the district had a “game plan in place” and was “protecting our staff from future concerns.”
