PowerSchool states the data breach included scholar names, addresses, mum or dad/guardian contact info, and a few demographic info
Faculties within the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District Faculty Board have been caught up in an information breach with a pc program utilized in faculties throughout North America.
On Monday, Jan. 7, PowerSchool, the Catholic board’s scholar info system supplier, advised the SMCDSB and different faculty boards in Ontario that they skilled an information breach between Dec. 22 to twenty-eight, 2024.
“We understand that this news may be concerning to some of our families, and we want you to know that we are taking this matter very seriously,” wrote the board’s director of schooling Francis Bagley in a letter despatched dwelling to households on Jan. 8.
“PowerSchool has taken full responsibility for this breach. They have acted swiftly to address the situation and are providing affected school boards with details and support,” she wrote.
Representatives from the Simcoe County District Faculty Board mentioned on Thursday that at this level, there isn’t a indication that their college students’ information was breached.
PowerSchool is an utility utilized by the Catholic and public board to retailer scholar demographic and sophistication info, in addition to a restricted quantity of school-based employees info.
Different faculty boards, together with Toronto and Durham Area had been additionally impacted. California-based software program firm PowerSchool claims its merchandise are utilized by 76 per cent of Canadian college students on its web site.
Based on info supplied to the Catholic faculty board by PowerSchool, core information for college students similar to names, addresses, some demographic info and mum or dad/guardian contact info has been compromised.
Data not accessed by way of the breach included notes about college students, scholar photographs, report card information, particular schooling info, attendance information, monetary info and passwords.
“The breach occurred when hackers accessed a PowerSchool support portal using a compromised PowerSchool credential, e.g., username/password,” wrote Bagley.
“PowerSchool worked closely with third-party experts to negotiate with the hackers and they have strong confidence that the situation has been resolved. They do not anticipate the data being shared or made public and believe it has been deleted without replication or dissemination,” she mentioned.
Bagley mentioned the board’s community has not been compromised by way of the breach, and {that a} query and reply doc will likely be despatched out to households inside the board inside the week. If mother and father have particular questions they’d like answered, they’re inspired to e-mail them to [email protected] or name 705-722-3555 ext. 319.
– With recordsdata from Bailey Moreton
