California Education Data Breach Exposes Records of 7 Million Students
A data breach at the Education Testing Service (ETS) exposed the personal information of 7 million California students. The California Department of Education (CDE) announced the incident on October 16, 2026. The breach involved names, addresses, demographic data, and disability status for students enrolled in public schools over the past three years. ETS, a non-profit that administers standardized tests like the Smarter Balanced exam, confirmed the intrusion. An unauthorized party used a compromised login credential to copy files between May 22 and September 18. ETS discovered the breach on September 25, days after the activity ended. The company took the affected server offline and disabled the compromised account. Law enforcement is investigating the incident. Parents and students began receiving notifications from state officials on Friday.