On the evening of February 24, 2026, a student email account at Elk Island Public Schools in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, was hacked and used to send fake messages to thousands of students. The school division security team found the problem quickly and deleted the fraudulent emails before the next morning.
The scam involved an email with the subject line “Elk Island Public Schools Job Announcement” that was sent to approximately 3,000 student accounts. This message included a harmful link and offered a fake part-time job to trick students into sharing their private information. Families at local schools, including SouthPointe School and Fort Saskatchewan High, were among those who received the messages.
According to a Student Email Breach notice from the division, cybersecurity staff removed the fake emails from student inboxes and disabled the single hacked account. The school division began contacting parents and guardians directly on February 25, 2026, to provide advice on how to keep their information safe.
Parents and students are encouraged to check their school email accounts and change their passwords to stay secure. If a family believes their personal details were exposed during the incident, they can contact the division’s privacy officer for more help. The school division is continuing to watch for any further suspicious activity on its network.
