Rabat - The alleged hack that extended to the personal data of nearly 50,000 Moroccan high school students did not take place through the education ministry’s digital database, the ministry said on Wednesday.
In a statement report by Morocco’s News Agency (MAP), the ministry explained that students’ personal data “do not belong to the website ‘tawjihi.ma’ affiliated with the ministry.”
The ministry said its department in charge of the digital database cross-compared the personal data of students that were hacked with its own database. The analysis concluded that “the data discrepancy between the Ministry’s database and the leaked database is significant, which confirms that this leak is not linked to the Ministry’s platform.”
In its statement, the ministry stressed that it will continue to work with all stakeholders to improve the security mechanism guarding students’ personal data stored at the ministry and its affiliated institutions.
The statement comes after local media reported that personal data belonging to over 50,000 Moroccan students were found on the dark web for sale.
Media reports indicate that online websites offering students free-of-charge tutorials are prime suspects in the hack.
In addition, other platforms posing as informative and easy-to-use portals for college applications are also suspected as they naturally require students to present a wide range of personal data. Many fear that these platforms can be targeted or used by hackers for harvesting personal data.