NYC Dept. of Education tech boss resigns following hack of 45K confidential student, staff records

The city’s Department of Education chief technology officer, Anuraag Sharma, has submitted his resignation just weeks after a widespread hack compromised the sensitive information of thousands of students and staffers, sources said.

Sharma, who was paid $207,000, has been the DOE’s top tech chief since 2019, spanning the administrations of former Mayor Bill de Blasio and current Mayor Eric Adams.

Approximately 45,000 students, plus school employees and service providers, were affected in the breach, DOE officials announced last month.

The hack included social security numbers, dates of birth, employee IDs and OSIS numbers — the nine-digit numbers issued to all students who attend a city public school.

Overall,19,000 documents were accessed from the file transfer system MOVEIt, and 9,000 social security numbers were stolen, the DOE said in a letter sent to staff.

Last year, the personal data of 820,000 current and former city students was compromised in a hack.

One insider said Sharma was well regarded — and insisted the departure was voluntary and unrelated to the recent data breach.

Sharma’s been employed by the city for nearly 20 years, previously serving as chief information officer for the departments of design and construction, and youth and community development.

Before that, he worked for the Health Department for 10 years, serving as assistant commissioner for IT solutions and delivery, according to his LinkedIn page.

Sharma’s the latest top ed official in the Adams administration to jump ship or be forced out.

Michael Vaughn, the $222,972 communications chief at the DOE, recently quit in the wake of a series of public relations missteps.

He joined the city school system in August of 2022.

Schools Chancellor David Banks and the DOE also “parted ways” with Savita Bharadwa, the chief strategy officer, who took home  $213,000 a year.

In March, Florida-import Desmond Blackburn, Banks’ deputy chancellor for leadership, left the DOE after one year in the $265,000 job.

Banks had named Adams’ longtime girlfriend Tracey Collins as a “special advisor” to Blackburn, giving her a 23% raise to $221,597 a year.

The DOE and Adams office declined to comment.

Sharma also declined to comment.