Cybersecurity breach of Nova Scotia school system could have financial impact

Nova Scotia’s Education Department says a recent cybersecurity breach involving a widely used student information system could have a financial impact on current and former teachers and staff in Cape Breton.

The department issued a statement Saturday saying an investigation into the breach of the PowerSchool system, used across North America, confirmed that some social insurance numbers collected before 2010 were included in data stolen during the breach.

As a result, the department says that about 250 current and former employees of the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education should monitor their bank accounts for irregular activity.

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The department says the former and current staff members will be contacted by the provincial government about getting credit protection.

On Thursday, Nova Scotia officials said the security breach, first reported Wednesday, also affected schools in P.E.I. and Newfoundland.

In Ontario, district schools board in Toronto, Peel and Durham issued notices about a “cyber incident” targeting PowerSchool.

At the time, the boards said the U.S.-based third-party vendor that offers the cloud-based software had experienced a data breach between Dec. 22 and Dec. 28, which also affected schools in Alberta.

At the time, the company said the breach was contained.

“We take our responsibility to protect student data privacy and act responsibly as data processors extremely seriously,” the company said in its statement Wednesday.

PowerSchool is typically used to track enrolment, attendance and grades.

It does not include medical information or financial data, such as credit card numbers. But it does include birth dates, addresses, allergy alerts, health card numbers, emergency contact information and whether a student has any adaptations.