PowerSchool data breach: Hackers steal student Social Security numbers, grades, and medical information from edtech giant
PowerSchool data breach: Hackers steal student Social Security numbers, grades, and medical information from edtech giant
The California firm is the largest provider of cloud-based education software for K-12 schools in the country, supporting more than 50 million students.
PowerSchool, a leading education technology firm, said the company was the target of a data security breach in late December, in which hackers stole sensitive data including Social Security numbers, grades, and medical information affecting both students and teachers, according to TechCrunch.
PowerSchool is the largest provider of cloud-based education software for K-12 education in the country, used by more than 16,000 customers to support more than 50 million students in the U.S.
The California-based edtech giant also said the personal information of parents and guardians, including names, phone numbers, and email addresses, was potentially compromised in some school districts.
“As soon as we learned of the incident, we immediately engaged our cybersecurity response protocols and mobilized a cross-functional response team, including senior leadership and third-party cybersecurity experts,” a PowerSchool spokesperson told Fast Company. “PowerSchool is not experiencing, nor expects to experience, any operational disruption and continues to provide services as normal to our customers.”
PowerSchool, which has not yet confirmed the number of customers impacted by the breach, told Newsweek that it is “still working through our detailed data review,” but confirmed “not all PowerSchool student-information-system customers were impacted.”
The hackers reportedly broke in through the internal customer support portal using stolen credentials, giving them access to the system used to manage student records, grades, attendance, and enrollment.
In addition, despite initial claims to the contrary, PowerSchool admitted it had paid a ransom to prevent attackers from releasing students and teachers’ stolen data. A PowerSchool spokesperson told Infosecurity, it “believes the data has been deleted without any further replication or dissemination.”
Founded in 1997, PowerSchool was acquired by Apple in 2001, and then by Bain Capital for $5.6 billion last year.
This story has been updated with a statement from PowerSchool.
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