The PowerSchool Data Breach: A Lingering Shadow Over Millions of Students
PowerSchool data breach: Millions impacted, key questions unanswered.
Matilda
The PowerSchool Data Breach: A Lingering Shadow Over Millions of Students
It's February 2025, and the cyberattack on PowerSchool, a dominant force in K-12 education technology, continues to reverberate across North America. This breach, impacting an estimated 60 million students and 18,000 schools, has the potential to be one of the largest data breaches of the year, raising serious questions about data security in the education sector and the transparency of companies entrusted with sensitive student information. PowerSchool, acquired by Bain Capital for a staggering $5.6 billion in 2024, confirmed the breach in early January. Hackers, exploiting compromised credentials, infiltrated the company's customer support portal, PowerSource, gaining access to the core of their system: PowerSchool SIS. This system is the backbone of school administration, managing everything from student records and grades to attendance and enrollment. The implications of this breach are vast, touching upon the privacy and security of millions of students and their families…
