Email Incident - December 13, 2023

Dear PAUSD Community,

We wish to inform you of an incident within our district's email system last night between 6:55 PM and 8:00 PM.

Due to an unintended automation error, the "AllStudents" email group was temporarily open to send messages. This error led to a substantial 'reply-all' email storm, resulting in approximately 1.18 million emails being sent and received by members of this group (all students) during the specified time period.

Please be assured this was not a security breach or a malicious attack but rather an unforeseen technical glitch. Our Technology team acted quickly to address and resolve the issue. Under normal circumstances, the ability to send emails to large groups such as "AllStudents" is disabled, and this event was an exception due to the automation error.

In response to this incident, we are taking the following measures:
1. Conducting a comprehensive review to fully understand how this automation error occurred.
2. Strengthening our email system's safeguards to prevent similar incidents in the future.
3. Reinforcing our existing IT security protocols to ensure the safety and reliability of our district's communication networks.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our students, staff, and families. The security and proper functioning of our communication systems are a top priority, and we are dedicated to making the necessary improvements to prevent such occurrences in the future.

For any concerns or further inquiries, please contact our tech support team via Let's Talk.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Warm regards,

Derek Moore
Chief Technology Officer
Palo Alto Unified School District