Report: Data breaches impacted 9M+ North Carolinians in 2025 :: WRAL.com

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Each year, since at least 2023, the number of data breaches
in North Carolina have been identified as “record breaking” by the state’s
justice department.

WRAL Investigates dug through the latest report from the NC
Department of Justice after learning of another data breach impacting students
and staff across the state.

According to Wake County Public School System, they were
notified of a
cybersecurity incident involving Canvas, a statewide learning management
system run by Instructure. District leaders said they believe student and staff
data may have been accessed.

The NCDOJ report shows a total of 2,349 data breaches,
impacting more than nine million North Carolinians. Most of the time, criminals
use hacking or phishing methods to get access to sensitive information.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation also publishes annual
reports more broadly focused on cyber-enabled crime. The FBI reports North
Carolinians lost $431,561,716 to internet crimes across 25,940 complaints.

According to the DOJ report, 155 security breaches affected the
education industry. That makes up seven percent of all breaches in 2025.

“Schools hold massive amounts of sensitive data, but often
they rely heavily on third party vendors. Attackers target educational
institutions, because one breach can impact thousands of students and staff all at
once. In many cases, the goal is really extortion, phishing or selling the data,”
said Kimberly Simon.

She’s the CEO of Growth Office Partners, a company that
helps…

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