School boards in multiple provinces have been affected by a data breach involving software used by schools across North America to store student information.
Ontario’s Toronto, Peel and Durham district school boards issued similarly worded notices about a “cyber incident” targeting PowerSchool, a third-party application that’s also used to store some school-based staff information.
The notices say PowerSchool told school boards in Ontario and elsewhere on Tuesday that it had experienced a data breach between Dec. 22 and 28.
Officials in Ontario, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia say they are working with PowerSchool to determine the extent of the breach.
PowerSchool, a U.S.-based provider of cloud software, says in a statement it has taken “all appropriate steps” to prevent further unauthorized access or misuse of the affected data.
The company says the incident is “contained,” and it does not anticipate the data will be shared or made public.
The Ontario school boards say they have notified the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario about the incident.
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“We know this news may be concerning, but please know that we are doing everything possible to learn more from PowerSchool about what occurred and will share that information with you,” the Toronto District School Board’s interim director of education, Stacey Zucker, wrote Wednesday in an email to parents and guardians.
Edmonton Catholic Schools posted a letter online that it received from PowerSchool.
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“Our investigation determined that an unauthorized party gained access to certain PowerSchool Student Information System customer data using a compromised credential, and we regret to inform you that your data was accessed,” the letter said.
The government of Newfoundland and Labrador also issued a notice about the data breach at PowerSchool, which it said is used in the provincial education system from kindergarten to Grade 12. It said “multiple government departments” are involved in determining the next steps.
A school board in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education, said it was also part of the breach.
“The Province is working with the vendor to determine the extent of the breach,” the news release read. “While the full impact is not yet clear, there is no indication the PowerSchool system in any other centre for education has been affected.”
The release added that PowerSchool said the breach is contained but that Nova Scotia is conducting its own investigation to confirm that.
PowerSchool said it is providing services to its customers as usual as it continues to investigate the data breach.
“We take our responsibility to protect student data privacy and act responsibly as data processors extremely seriously,” it said in its statement.
— With files from Global News
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