Officials with Wild Rose School Division (WRSD) have confirmed they are aware of a data breach from PowerSchool. It says an e-mail has been sent to parents informing them of the leak, and is awaiting more details from PowerSchool.
PowerSchool is a software tool that allows parents to track their children’s progress in school, including grades.
The letter says it has been assured by PowerSchool that all appropriate steps have been taken to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse. It adds, they do not anticipate the data being shared or being made public, and they believe it has been deleted without any further replication or dissemination.
A Jan. 9, 2025 letter sent to parents informing of a data breach involving PowerSchool. (Wild Rose School Division)
The breach has impacted schools across North America and other parts of the world, compromising students’ personal information.
That’s according to a letter from Red Deer Public Schools superintendent Chad Erickson, who said the district was made aware of the Dec. 28, 2024, breach on Jan. 7, and sent the letter to families on Jan. 8, after learning the extent of the incident.
Erickson said the breach involved current and past student and staff information stored within the PowerSchool Student Information System, including:
- Student names
- Student mailing addresses
- Dates of birth – students only
- Student home phone numbers
- Basic student medical information (in some cases), such as details about asthma, diabetes, or allergies
Erickson noted, that no financial information related to individuals in Red Deer Public Schools was involved in the breach. According to PowerSchool, no data was leaked and information taken during the breach was destroyed.
“We recognize the critical importance of protecting personal information, and we want to assure you that this matter is being treated with the utmost seriousness,” said Erickson. “PowerSchool has informed us that they are actively implementing enhanced security measures and are working closely with law enforcement to address this situation.”
He intends to update families as the district receives more information from PowerSchool, and said no action is required of families at the moment.
Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools has confirmed they too have been impacted.
In a statement to the media, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools says they were notified of the breach on Wednesday, which included both past and present student and staff information.
This includes staff names, phone numbers, and emails. For students the compromised data includes names, mailing addresses, dates of birth, home phone numbers, and basic medical information. No financial or banking information was included.
“At RDCRS, the safety and privacy of our staff, students, and families are paramount. Our IT team is actively collaborating with PowerSchool to understand the full scope of this breach and assess its implications for our Division,” the division said in a statement.
“While no action is required from our staff, students, or families at this time, we are committed to keeping our community informed as new information becomes available. Affected individuals have already been notified directly, and additional support will be provided as needed.
“PowerSchool has provided assurances that information taken during the breach was destroyed. This breach highlights the growing challenges organizations face in safeguarding sensitive information in the digital age. We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness and will continue working diligently to protect the information entrusted to us.”
Wolf Creek Public Schools confirmed they were also affected by the data breach and communicated it with staff and parents yesterday.
Wild Rose School Division confirmed they were impacted by the breach but at this point, don’t know the extent of what data was accessed. They are waiting for more details from PowerSchool.
Meanwhile, Clearview Public Schools said they were not impacted by the breach after they received an email from PowerSchool indicating that they had a security breach through PowerSource, which the division does not utilize.
Rewind Radio News has yet to hear back if Chinook’s Edge School Division has been affected or not.
This story will be updated as new information becomes available.
–with files from rdnewsNOW
Related: Canadian school boards among those affected by cyber incident involving third party
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