Parents warned to be on alert after school data breach

Parents have been told to be alert for unexpected emails or phone calls after a Northern Ireland school app used by almost 50,000 people was affected by a data breach.The Equipple app is used by many schools to schedule and book meetings between parents and teachers.There have been concerns that the breach may have allowed access to parent contact details and some pupil information.In a statement to BBC News NI a spokesperson for Equipple said they were taking the matter "extremely seriously" and that there is "no evidence of any ongoing unauthorised access to the platform"."Equipple recently identified unauthorised access to part of its cloud-hosted environment and immediately activated its incident response procedures," they said."We secured the affected systems and, with the support of independent cybersecurity specialists, have implemented additional safeguards."Equipple had informed schools immediately of the breach and said that an investigation, supported by specialists, was continuing.Some schools who use the app have contacted parents to inform them of the incident.