ATLANTA -- The Secret Service and Georgia Bureau of Investigation have been brought in to investigate a "phishing" scam that targeted Atlanta Public Schools employees. Now there's fear that even more were impacted than first thought.
The trick, known commonly as phishing involves creating a clone of an official website to trick victims into sharing private data.
Officials believe it was this exact type of scam that targeted Atlanta's vast school system and resulted in a data breach. At first, school authorities believed that internet thieves lured about 40 unsuspecting employees into clicking on a fake link through the scam. That was how they gained the information needed to redirect employees' direct deposit to accounts set up by the thieves.
On Tuesday, however, that estimate was expanded to the entire school system with fears that all employees could have at least some information exposed.
"Unfortunately, it is impossible for the district to see what the thieves actually accessed at this time, but it is apparent that the breach extends beyond the original employees whose direct deposit was impacted," the school said in a press release.
Now, top district officials are working with the Secret Service to learn more about the breach and add security measures might prevent another one in the future.
