Late last year, hundreds of thousands of K-12 students’ and staff’s personal information at Idaho schools was compromised in a cybersecurity breach.
About two thirds of Idaho’s roughly 190 school districts use PowerSchool, a private software program used to manage students’ information and progress. So far, the State Board of Education says about 69 districts have been impacted.
“Districts that have reported to us as of this point, have estimated approximately 425,000 student records that have potentially been impacted and approximately 80,000 staff records within the state of Idaho,” said Chief Technology officer at the board Chris Campbell, adding schools are still investigating how many people were targeted.
PowerSchool has been used in the state by both traditional and charter schools for about two decades. The Dec. 28 cybersecurity hack affected millions of users across the country.
The stolen data includes names, addresses and grades — but Campbell said the scope is still unclear.
“There are some scenarios where an individual's more private information might have been available as well, possibly including some medical information or social security numbers in some instances,” he said.
The State Board of Education has designated a security coordinator to be a point of contact with local school districts.
PowerSchool reported the breach is contained. The company is making credit monitoring and identity protection services available to those affected. More information can be found here.
