School District Five of Lexington & Richland Counties reports data breach affecting over 31,000 individuals
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School District Five of Lexington & Richland Counties in South Carolina report a data breach that exposed sensitive personal information of 31,475 individuals. School District Five serves approximately 27,000 students and has around 2,450 staff members.
The cyberattack was detected on June 3, 2025. It disrupted district operations, forcing delays in employee bonus payments that were scheduled for June 6. The attack affected all district software systems, requiring extensive restoration. Officials warned that some data might not be recoverable due to the severity of the attack.
The district engaged independent cybersecurity experts to assist with investigating and remediating the network breach. The incident was caused by a ransomware attack claimed by the Interlock gang. The investigation determined that files containing sensitive personal information were stolen from the network.
Exposed data includes:
- Current and former names
- Dates of birth
- Social Security numbers
- Financial account information
- State-issued identification information (driver's license, passport, etc.)
The district discovered that information belonging to former students from prior years was posted online in forums used by the hackers. The district is providing affected individuals with free credit monitoring services, including Single Bureau Credit Monitoring, credit reports, and credit scores with 12 months of alerts and $1 million in identity theft insurance.
