Data Breach: PowerSchool Paid Off Hackers, Now Schools Face Individualized Extortion

By Netvora Tech News

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PowerSchool, a leading provider of education software and cloud solutions, was victimized by a massive data breach last year. The company paid off the hackers to destroy the stolen data, but now individual schools and school districts in the US and Canada are being held for ransom, according to PowerSchool. The company claims that over 60 million students in more than 90 countries use its services. The attack is believed to have compromised the personal data of millions of students, parents, and teachers. The total number of victims is still unknown. The largest school district in Canada reported that possibly 40 years' worth of data was stolen. PowerSchool has now informed schools and school districts that they are being targeted individually with data stolen in December. "Every organization that faces a ransomware or data extortion attack must make a difficult decision in these situations," the company said in a statement. "After discovering the incident in December, we made the decision to pay because we thought it was in the best interest of our customers, students, and communities we serve." The company believed that paying the ransom was the best way to prevent the data from being made public and felt it was their responsibility to take action. However, as is often the case with situations like this, there was a risk that the attackers would not delete the stolen data, despite guarantees and proof that they provided. Students and teachers can use PowerSchool's credit monitoring and identity protection services for two years at no cost to them. Further information about the current situation has not been disclosed.