November 10, 2026: Missoula County Public Schools in Montana said the breach at its software vendor Frontline Education exposed data on about 6,000 current and former employees and job applicants, including Social Security numbers, email addresses and home addresses. The district says none of its own systems were accessed. See the Missoula County Public Schools breach record.
The district was notified on October 26, 2026 that Frontline Education, a third-party education software platform the district uses, had a security incident. A district spokesperson told KPAX that no district systems or networks were accessed and that the breach happened entirely within Frontline's environment.
The Missoula staff are part of a much larger incident. State filings put the total for the Frontline Education breach at 3,085,266 people across many school districts. KPAX quoted an earlier company figure of 1.3 million, which later filings have replaced. The 6,000 Missoula employees and applicants are included in the national total, not added to it.
What happened at Missoula County Public Schools?
The attack hit Frontline, not the district. Frontline has notified the Montana Attorney General and the three national credit bureaus, according to the district, and is sending letters to affected people. Updates from the vendor are published on Frontline's cybersecurity incident page.
For parents, the key point is that this notice is about employees and job applicants. The district's student information systems and email were not the entry point, and the local notice does not mention student records.
What data was exposed?
For the Missoula group, the district named three types of information:
- Social Security numbers
- Email addresses
- Home addresses
A Social Security number paired with a home address is enough to open credit in someone's name or file a fraudulent tax return. Frontline's national field list is wider and varies by product and customer, so other districts may report different data. For background on the vendor incident, see our Frontline Education breach overview.
Who is affected?
About 6,000 current and former district employees and people who applied for jobs with the district. Applicants who were never hired can still be affected, because their applications sat in the same HR system.
Students and parents are not part of this local notice. Staff at other Montana districts that use Frontline may be in the vendor's national total without appearing in Missoula's count. If you never worked for or applied to the district, you are not in the Missoula group, but you could still be affected through another employer that used Frontline.
Were student records involved?
Not according to the district. Its notice covers employees and applicants only, and it says no district networks were accessed. Frontline products can hold student data for other customers. A separate Florida incident, in which Lake County Schools accidentally released about 47,000 student files, shows a different kind of school data exposure.
What should Missoula staff and applicants do?
- Keep the letter from Frontline or the district, and enrol in credit monitoring only through the code in that letter.
- Place a free credit freeze with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, since Social Security numbers are involved.
- Consider requesting an IRS Identity Protection PIN to block fraudulent tax returns filed in your name.
- Check any follow-up messages against frontlineeducation.com and mcpsmt.org before you act on them.
- Neither the district nor Frontline will ask for your bank details or card number to "restore" your employee file.
Frequently asked questions
How many Missoula County Public Schools staff were affected?
About 6,000 current and former employees and job applicants, according to the district. They are part of the wider Frontline Education breach, which state filings put at 3,085,266 people nationwide. The Missoula figure is included in that national total, not added to it.
Were Social Security numbers exposed?
Yes, for the Missoula group. The district said Social Security numbers, email addresses and home addresses may have been exposed. Affected people should freeze their credit and enrol in the monitoring offered in Frontline's letter, using only the code printed in that letter.
Were student records involved in the Missoula breach?
Not according to the district. Its notice covers employees and job applicants, and it says no district systems or networks were accessed. The breach happened inside Frontline Education's environment. Frontline products can hold student data for other school districts.
Is this a separate attack on Missoula schools?
No. Missoula is one of many school districts affected by the Frontline Education breach. The district was notified by Frontline on October 26, 2026, and the incident took place in the vendor's systems rather than on the district's own network.