Notice of Incident December 3, 2025
Dear Pembina Trails Community, and in particular, former students and staff:
We wish to provide an update regarding the cybersecurity incident at Pembina Trails School Division that occurred in December 2024, about which we previously informed our community.
By way of reminder, we had engaged third-party cyber security professionals to help us investigate the incident. We had taken steps to contain the incident, such as taking systems offline and progressively restoring them in a secure manner. We had also notified law enforcement and have been collaborating with the Manitoba Ombudsman. We have kept our community informed and provided consistent updates throughout. In our last update, we confirmed that certain files on Pembina Trails’ systems were made available on parts of the internet that cannot be easily accessed by the general public using traditional web browsers.
As announced in that last update May 1, 2025 we conducted a data mining exercise (i.e., a deep dive using specialized tools and expertise) to search for any further types of personal information that may require notification. This exercise has concluded, and we are now able to share the groups of individuals and categories of personal information likely involved.
Please review the groups affected below to determine whether your personal information may have been involved in the incident. The files do not contain information for every individual within the group within the specified date range. The dates are for reference only and an overwhelming majority of identified files are from 2015 onwards.
Remain cautious, as always, when receiving emails, mail, text messages or phone calls that appear to come from Pembina Trails School Division or claim to be related to this incident or about your child. Be particularly vigilant about communications requesting personal information, those containing hyperlinks or any message that seems unusual. If you have children, consider speaking to them about exercising similar precautions when they receive texts, phone calls or email. For additional support, visit https://www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/en.
We deeply regret that this incident occurred. Should you have any questions, please contact our privacy officer using this form.
Groups likely affected
Students - Applies to the following 12 schools within the division unless otherwise indicated: Vincent Massey, Pembina Trails Collegiate, Acadia, Bairdmore, Crane, Fort Richmond, Oakenwald, Ralph Maybank, St. Avila, South Point, Viscount and Shaftesbury.
Groups likely affected | Personal information potentially involved | |
Students enrolled between 1999 and 2024 | Name, student number, date of birth, contact information, social insurance number, passport number, health card number, personal health information, disciplinary/behavioural information | |
Students who were disciplined or suspended between 1999 and 2024 | Name, disciplinary/behavioural information | |
Students who provided information or received services from Student Support Services between 2010 and 2024 | Name, date of birth, personal health information | |
Students on an Individual Education Plan, Individual Transition Plan, or who received a Resource Assessment Report between 2002 and 2024 | Name, date of birth, disciplinary information, personal health information, education plan | |
Students whose Driver Student Information Form indicates medical concerns/special needs between 2010 and 2020 | Name, date of birth, contact information, personal health information | |
Students at Fort Richmond Collegiate with medical concerns between 2010-2011 | Name, date of birth, contact information, personal health information | |
Students at Acadia Junior High School who updated contact information in 2018 | Name, date of birth, contact information, provincial health number and personal health information | |
Students at Vincent Massey Collegiate between 2022 and 2024 | Name, date of birth, contact information, provincial health number and personal health information | |
Students who received Speech-Language Pathology services between 2013 and 2024 | Name, date of birth, personal health information, behavioural information | |
Students who provided information in relation to school trips or programs between 2014 and 2024 | Name, date of birth, contact information, provincial health number, personal health information | |
Certain scholarship and award recipients between 2018 and 2024 | Name, contact information, social insurance number |
Teachers and Staff Division-wide
Groups likely affected | Personal information potentially involved | |
Teachers and Staff between 2001 and 2024 | Name, date of birth, contact information, provincial health number, financial account number | |
Teachers and Staff between 2012 to 2019 and 2024 (the majority of individuals are in the years 2018, 2019, and 2024) | Social insurance number | |
Teachers who provided personal health information between 2006 and 2024 (the majority of individuals in this category are between the years 2020 and 2024) | Name, personal health information | |
Teachers who had a disciplinary event between 2001 and 2024 (the majority of individuals in this category are between the years 2016 and 2024) | Name and disciplinary information |
Other community members Division-wide
Groups likely affected | Personal information potentially involved | |
Individuals who wrote cheques to the Pembina Trails School Division between 2021 and 2024 | Name, contact information, cheque image including account number | |
Individuals who received Honoraria between 2018 and 2024 (the majority of individuals in this category are between the years 2018 and 2019) | Name, contact information, social insurance number |
Individuals who provided passport scans or passport numbers between 2005 and 2024 (some of which may have expired) (the majority of individuals in this category are between the years 2012 and 2024) | Name, contact information, passport number | |
Individuals who provided driver’s license numbers or scans between 2005 and 2024 (the majority of individuals in this category are between the years 2011 and 2024) | Name, contact information, driver’s license number |
Questions and Answers
This Q & A provides supplemental information to the notice above about the incident. If you have a question, you may contact our privacy officer using this form.
About the incident
- What happened?
On December 2, 2024 we experienced a cyber security incident that resulted in unauthorized access to our systems. The incident was contained, and our investigation is now complete. - How did you respond to the incident?
Upon discovering the incident, we immediately launched an investigation and engaged third-party cyber security professionals to contain the incident and determine its scope. We kept our community informed of this event and provided notice to affected individuals as they were identified. - Has the incident been resolved?
Yes, the incident has been resolved. Our IT department completed restoration of divisional and in-school devices as of January 27, 2025.
About the response
- Is it safe to connect devices to the school network?
Yes, Pembina Trails' systems remain secure, and it is safe to connect devices to the school network. - What are you doing to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
Since the incident, we have been working with a third-party security vendor to enhance some of our existing measures and to provide 24/7 security monitoring of our system. Our systems remain secure. - What are you doing to inform affected individuals?
In addition to the notices provided to date, we are also providing notice to individuals who were identified following our final review of a large volume of digital files. A minority of individuals with sensitive information will be receiving personalized notices. - Has the law enforcement been notified?
Yes, we notified law enforcement. - Has the Manitoba Ombudsman been notified?
Yes, we notified and are collaborating with the Manitoba Ombudsman. - Will you be providing any further updates?
Our investigation is complete, and no further updates are expected regarding this matter.
About the data
- Was data accessed?
We initially informed our community that the database containing student information was accessed and the database containing payroll information may have been accessed. Further to our review of files taken from our systems, we know that there were copies of those databases or excerpts thereof were among them. We also know that additional categories of information were among the files, as further described in the above. - Was data posted online or leaked?
Certain files on Pembina Trails’ systems were made available on parts of the internet that cannot be easily accessed by the general public using traditional web browsers. - What data was among the files taken?
We identified backups of our Student Information System database, excerpts from our staff payroll database, student and staff storage files from 12 schools, and division administrative documents. The full breakdown is available above, further to the data mining activity we conducted. - What is data mining?
Data mining involves a deep dive into the files taken using specialized tools and third-party expertise. The objective is to determine the types of personal information in the files and the categories of individuals to whom they relate. This review is now complete. - Was my data involved in the incident?
We encourage current and former students enrolled between 1999 and 2024, and current or former staff working at Pembina Trails between 2001 and 2024 to review the above groups of individuals and categories of personal information likely involved in the incident. - Are you providing credit monitoring?
If you previously received a credit monitoring code but did not redeem it or were otherwise eligible to receive one and did not request one, please contact us using this form. If you are an honoraria, scholarship, or award recipient who had provided your social insurance number, you may also be eligible for similar credit monitoring services. You must be 18 years or older to enroll in the credit monitoring services. - I have other questions.
If you have any other questions, you may contact our privacy officer using this form.
Notice of Incident December 19, 2024
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