Local school district postponing live instruction after multiple security breaches during remote learning

WASHINGTON, Pa. — The Trinity Area School District had multiple security breaches during remote learning on Wednesday, and students might have been exposed to porn.

The police are actively investigating, and the district is postponing live instruction until the issue is resolved.

We got a letter the superintendent sent to parents explaining what happened.

The fifth grade cyber classroom at Trinity West elementary was hacked. There were also security breaches in two virtual classrooms at the high school.

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The hacker made racially offensive comments, along with other inappropriate comments. There is also a report of an alleged pornographic image that popped up.

Teachers were able to end the sessions and gather evidence for police.

Channel 11 spoke with a cyber expert from Carnegie Mellon on how the breach may have happened to begin with and what can be done in order to trust Zoom again.

“Generally, what happens is that the school has set up their Zoom links without any security,” said Lorrie Cranor. “The school district can set up their Zoom with security … so it requires a password and set it up that people who only go to the school can get in.”

A similar incident happened Wednesday morning at Pittsburgh Public Schools. The district blocked the Safe YouTube website indefinitely from district devices.

Is there an issue at your child’s school that you’d like us to investigate? Contact our investigators by emailing 11investigates@wpxi.com or calling (412) 237-4963.

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