Exploit: Unsecured Database
GetSchooled: Education Non-Profit
Risk to Small Business: 2.302 = Severe
An unsecured database at education charity operation GetSchooled left personally identifiable information exposed for more than 900K students, ranging from 10-year-olds to college students. GetSchooled is an arm of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that encourages educational achievement for students in need through gamification, personalized support, and content development. The database was left open and exposed for approximately one month.
Individual Risk: 2.271 = Severe
The exposed information includes personally identifiable information of students including children, teenagers and young adults. Some of the information left exposed in this incident was very detailed including full addresses, schools, phone numbers and emails, graduation details, ages, genders.
Customers Impacted: 930,000
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Failing to secure a database is a rookie mistake, and especially embarrassing (and dangerous) for a charity that primarily serves minors.