Dear parents and carers,
I am writing to inform you of a cyber incident that has impacted some student data across all Victorian government schools.
What has been accessed
A Department of Education database with current and past student information was accessed by an external third-party.
The third-party accessed active and inactive past school student accounts, consisting of:
- student name
- DET-issued email address and encrypted password (for those that use them)
- school name
- year level
The third-party did not access other student data such as birth dates, home addresses or phone numbers.
Your child’s safety
The safety and wellbeing of students is our priority. The department has protections in place for student email accounts, however you may wish to remind your child not to respond to unexpected or unknown emails. If you have safety concerns about your child’s school location being known, please contact me and notify Victoria Police or The Orange Door as necessary.
What’s happened to the accessed data?
There is no evidence to suggest that the data accessed has been released publicly or shared with other third parties.
Steps we are taking
Wodonga Senior Secondary College and Wodonga Middle Years College operate on locally managed staff and student systems for authentication and email access. While we utilise some Department of Education systems for purposes such as software licensing, our students do not use departmental systems for day-to-day ICT access, file storage, or email services.
As a result, the impact of this incident on our local systems and student data is minimal. Our student management and learning management systems are operating normally, are correctly configured with 2026 student and class data, and remain accessible to both staff and students without interruption.
Notwithstanding this limited impact, we are fully following all recommendations provided by the Department of Education. These actions, including the reset of department-based student passwords, are being completed today. Our students will receive further instructions through their local Wodonga Senior Secondary College and Wodonga Middle Years College email accounts.
The department has identified the cause of this incident and has put protections in place. They will continue to provide me with updates as we enter the 2026 school year.
If you wish to speak with someone from the Department of Education about this, please call 1800 338 663.
As always we are ready to support your family in any way.
Kind regards,
Vern Hilditch
Executive Principal
Wodonga Middle Years College
Wodonga Senior Secondary College
North East Flexible Learning Network