Canadian School Boards Hit by Cyber Incident Involving Third Party
A data breach affecting school boards across Canada has raised concerns
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, PowerSchool, Data Breach
Toronto: So, there’s been a bit of a scare with school boards in Canada. A data breach has hit several provinces, and it’s all about a software called PowerSchool. This app is used to keep track of student info, and it seems some unauthorized access happened.
School boards in places like Toronto, Peel, and Durham have sent out notices about this “cyber incident.” PowerSchool let them know that the breach took place between December 22 and 28. Yikes, right?
Officials from Ontario, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador are on it, working with PowerSchool to figure out just how bad this breach is. PowerSchool, which is based in the U.S., claims they’ve taken steps to stop any more unauthorized access.
They say the situation is “contained” and don’t expect the data to be leaked or made public. Still, the Ontario school boards have informed the Information and Privacy Commissioner about what’s going on.
Stacey Zucker, the interim director of education for the Toronto District School Board, reassured parents in an email that they’re doing everything they can to get to the bottom of this. Edmonton Catholic Schools even shared a letter from PowerSchool, which admitted that someone got into their system using a compromised credential.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s government also chimed in, saying that this software is used from kindergarten all the way to Grade 12. They’re working with multiple departments to figure out the next steps.
PowerSchool insists they’re still providing services as usual while they investigate. They take student data privacy very seriously, which is good to hear.
This whole situation is definitely concerning, but it seems like they’re on top of it. Let’s hope they can sort it out quickly!