Letter to our Families Regarding the PowerSchool Cybersecurity Incident
Dear PRSD families,
I am writing to make you aware of a recent cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, a widely used company that is used to store student information. This incident has impacted numerous school divisions and millions of students across North America.
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, PowerSchool personnel informed our leadership team that they experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) customer data. Unfortunately, they have confirmed that some of the information belonging to the Peace River School Division’s families and educators was affected.
Our team responded promptly, learning more about the situation during a phone conference organized by PowerSchool to disseminate information to its multitude of customer stakeholders. PowerSchool staff informed us that the breached data primarily included parent and student contact information, and we have been able to confirm this through our own investigation. Additionally, we want to reassure you that no passwords, student photos, financial information, social security numbers, or student academic records were accessed in the breach. We also want to stress that the PRSD was not an individual target and that dozens of Alberta school divisions, and hundreds of divisions across North America have been impacted by the breach.
PowerSchool personnel informed us that they took immediate action to cease further unauthorized access to information within the PowerSchool system. We have also been advised that through high-level negotiations, PowerSchool took the steps necessary to secure all of the compromised data.
Protecting the personal information of our staff and students is something the PRSD takes seriously. We understand that news like this can be unsettling, and we will continue to engage closely with PowerSchool on this matter.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Jeff Thompson, PhD
Superintendent of Schools