Nova Scotia School System Cybersecurity Breach May Have Financial Repercussions
Nova Scotia’s Education Department has revealed that a recent cybersecurity breach involving the widely used PowerSchool student information system may financially affect current and former teachers and staff in Cape Breton.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the department confirmed that an investigation into the breach found that some social insurance numbers collected prior to 2010 were included in the stolen data.
As a result, approximately 250 current and former employees of the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education are being advised to monitor their bank accounts for any unusual activity.
The Education Department has stated that current and former staff impacted by the breach will be contacted by the provincial government regarding credit protection services.
On Thursday, Nova Scotia officials revealed that the cybersecurity breach, first reported on Wednesday, also affected schools in Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) and Newfoundland.
In Ontario, school boards in Toronto, Peel, and Durham issued notices about a “cyber incident” targeting PowerSchool. Officials said the U.S.-based third-party vendor, which provides the cloud-based software, experienced a data breach between December 22 and December 28. Schools in Alberta were also affected.
The company has stated that the breach has been contained.
“We take our responsibility to protect student data privacy and act responsibly as data processors extremely seriously,” PowerSchool said in a statement on Wednesday.
PowerSchool is commonly used to manage enrolment, attendance, and grades. While it does not store medical or financial information, such as credit card numbers, it does include sensitive data like birth dates, addresses, allergy alerts, health card numbers, emergency contact information, and details about student adaptations.
