Cybersecurity breach impacts public schools
Published 4:08 pm Friday, January 17, 2025
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A cybersecurity incident that impacted public schools statewide has apparently been contained, but local school officials are still awaiting additional information regarding its overall impact.
On Tuesday of last week, officials with North Carolina Public Schools and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) alerted all school districts regarding the incident, which impacted student and teacher data.
The alert, which was not isolated only to North Carolina, came from PowerSchool, a student information system that has been in use in the state since 2013.
PowerSchool became aware on Dec. 28, 2024 of a cybersecurity incident that began on Dec. 19. The data breach occurred when the credentials of a PowerSchool contract employee were compromised.
PowerSchool has shared that the threat has been contained and that the compromised data was not shared and destroyed. PowerSchool is working with law enforcement to monitor the dark web for any data exposure.
With the assistance of PowerSchool, more information and resources (including credit monitoring or identity protection services if applicable) will be provided as it becomes available.