[September 13, 2011] EPISD to offer discounted identity theft services after hacking Tweet Sep 13, 2011 (El Paso Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- El Paso Independent School District is working with a security company to provide a discounted identity theft membership after a recent hacking in the district's intranet network. The hacking occurred Aug. 31, making private information such as names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses of all current employees and students subject to identity theft. The company, Experian, has made a deal with the district to protect hacked victims of the district for 50 percent off. Still, employees and parents would have to pay $77.76 or $119.76 annually -- depending on whether the membership is for one person or a family of two or more. District officials said EPISD cannot legally pay for the entire sum of the service according to Texas law. On the district's website under the "Protect You Identity" link, a letter has been posted by Interim Superintendent Dr. Terri Jordan explaining the discount. In the letter she said, "In our continued efforts to provide support to you regarding the detection of possible misuse of your personal information, we have been in contact with a credit monitoring service to expand the options available to you. We have researched other organizations that have had similar security breaches and found that the options located on this website best meet our needs." The offer ends on Dec. 31. The computer security breach is still under investigation by the district and the FBI's Infragard Division, an alliance of the FBI and the information technology industry and academic institutions that helps fight cyber crime, terrorism and other crimes. No other information regarding the hackers or the stage of the investigation has been released at this time. EPISD board president Isela Castanon-Williams said the district made the discount option available to employees and parents as quickly as possible. She said everyone took the situation seriously and was very concerned. "We felt the options provided on the episd.org website were the best options available immediately to provide assistance to our employees and families," she said. For more information visit episd.org. Caylor Ballinger may be reached at [email protected]; 546-6133. ___ (c)2011 the El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas) Visit the El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas) at www.elpasotimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]