PowerSchool states the knowledge breach included pupil names, addresses, dad or mum/guardian contact data, and a few demographic data
Colleges within the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District Faculty Board have been caught up in an information breach with a pc program utilized in colleges throughout North America.
On Monday, Jan. 7, PowerSchool, the Catholic board’s pupil data system supplier, instructed the SMCDSB and different college 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 stated on Thursday that at this level, there isn’t a indication that their college students’ knowledge was breached.
PowerSchool is an software utilized by the Catholic and public board to retailer pupil demographic and sophistication data, in addition to a restricted quantity of school-based employees data.
Different college boards, together with Toronto and Durham Area have 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 data offered to the Catholic college board by PowerSchool, core knowledge for college kids similar to names, addresses, some demographic data and dad or mum/guardian contact data has been compromised.
Data not accessed by the breach included notes about college students, pupil pictures, report card knowledge, particular schooling data, attendance knowledge, monetary data 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 stated.
Bagley stated the board’s community has not been compromised by the breach, and {that a} query and reply doc can 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 electronic mail them to [email protected] or name 705-722-3555 ext. 319.
– With recordsdata from Bailey Moreton
