US EditionSchool boards caught unprepared in mass student data breach: provincial watchdogs
Investigations revealed millions of Canadians affected with school boards lacking breach response plans and proper oversight of PowerSchool’s cybersecurity safeguards.
- On Tuesday, Patricia Kosseim and Diane McLeod found school boards lacked adequate breach response plans after the PowerSchool cyberattack affecting about 5.2 million Canadians.
- Between Dec. 22 and 28, 2024, the attacker used compromised PowerSource credentials tied to a former subcontractor, prompting PowerSchool to pay ransom and triggering another demand on May 4, 2025.
- Roughly 3.86 million Ontarians had personal information exposed, and twenty school boards and the Ontario Ministry of Education reported incidents with sensitive records dating back to 1985.
- The commissioners recommended that school boards review contracts with PowerSchool, limit remote access due to an "always on" feature, and ensure compliance within six months while PowerSchool provides an independent security assessment by March 2026.
- The reports come after last month's sentencing of a Massachusetts man, court documents citing a US$2.85 million bitcoin ransom demand, and the federal privacy watchdog discontinuing its investigation in July.
21 Articles
21 Articles
TDSB and other Ontario school boards slammed over security failures that compromised millions of student records in cyberattack
Ontario privacy commissioner says “institutions did not have reasonable measures” to prevent 2024 incident that targeted the software used by boards.
GTA school boards did not have ‘reasonable measures’ to stave off student data breach: privacy commissioner
An investigation determined the Greater Toronto Area school boards impacted by a cyberattack late last year did not have 'reasonable measures' to prevent unwanted access to personal information they collected and lacked 'necessary oversight' to monitor PowerSchool’s obligations of its obligations.
NiagaraFallsReview.ca
School boards caught unprepared in mass student data breach: provincial watchdogs
Privacy watchdogs in Ontario and Alberta issued their findings Tuesday after investigating a mass data breach of a student information system used across Canada, concluding that school boards lacked adequate breach response plans, among other issues.
Reports cite widespread failures by Alberta education bodies in last year’s massive PowerSchool breach
EDMONTON — Privacy commissioners in Ontario and Alberta say investigations into a major PowerSchool data breach show school boards and other educational bodies failed to meet key privacy and security obligations when using the widely adopted education technology platform. The breach affected millions of Canadians and exposed weaknesses in how student information systems are managed across the country. The two commissioners conducted their invest…
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