ON OCTOBER 18, a shocking internal email was sent to all district employees. Granite had been the potential target of a cyberattack. At the time, the scope of this breach was unknown and would remain as such until a month later on November 20.
“On September 20, 2024, Granite became aware of suspicious activity on its network. Granite took steps to contain the incident and launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the activity,” Ben Horsely, the Granite District superintendent, said. “The investigation determined that between September 11 and September 25, 2025, an unknown, unauthorized actor gained access to certain computer systems and accessed and/or acquired files stored on those computer systems.”
Two more emails were sent out that weekend, detailing the true scope of the breach. All current employees of Granite had their names, social security numbers, bank accounts, and routing numbers compromised. Following this, the district offered a day off for employees to resolve these issues with their banks, along with identity and credit monitoring services. That ‘day off’ offer was later retracted.
As for how Granger was affected, Dr. Howe says that while he’s not as worried about his own data as much as he probably should be, he is worried about whether the faculty had a clear course of action to follow in the wake of the leak.
“This is an awful, awful thing. It’s sad that we’re in a world where so much information is vulnerable like this. With every attack we’re aware of, there’s likely way more that we’re not, which is scary,” Dr. Howe said.
Ms. Hess, an Earth Science teacher, heard about the breach from the email. She says that she hasn’t done much in response to the leak. She has mostly just kept an eye on her bank account for anything suspicious. As for the district’s response, “It’s tough because you want more protection, but I don’t know. They’ve done as much as anyone can do. This has just been a bummer for everyone,” she said.
Mr. Ballou, a business teacher, is in a similar situation. “My bank told me like nothing because the district’s going to provide credit monitoring. But I don’t know how it’s going to pan out,” he said.
But this leak hasn’t just affected teachers, all employees of Granite were impacted. For instance, Katie, who works in the cafeteria, says that she had to change her bank information and block her social security number to prevent any new lines of credit from being opened in her name. “With everything being online now, we’re all much more vulnerable to attack,” she said. “Be aware and pay attention to your accounts.”
Granite District’s 65,000 students also had their information leaked in the attack. Ms. Robinson has been open about this recent development with her students, saying that Lancers should check their credit records and put their credit reports on freeze. She also says to keep a close eye on mail, both physical and electronic, for updates from Granite.
“It’s just a good idea, even if you’re still in high school to check on your credit. It can have a big impact on you later in life. I’ve had students in the past who have had their parents open loans in their name, and when they go to buy a car, they suddenly discover that they owe a ton of money to people they don’t know,” she said.
If any Lancers are worried about their credit, they can freeze their credit at the experian.com, equifax.com, and transunion.com websites to prevent fraudulent activity. These credit freezes will require full name, social security number, date of birth, address, and ID.
