PowerSchool Cyberattack – Hackers Accessed Data of Students & Teachers

In a significant cybersecurity incident, Walker County Schools administrators are alerting parents and educators about a data breach involving PowerSchool, their student information system vendor.

The breach was discovered on December 28, 2024, affecting the company’s customer support portal, PowerSource.

Incident Details

According to Superintendent Damon Raines, school officials were notified of the breach on Tuesday through an email from PowerSchool.

The unauthorized access resulted in the compromise of information belonging to families and educators within the Walker County School system.

PowerSchool has confirmed that:

• The breach was isolated to the PowerSource portal
• Only the Student Information System (SIS) database was accessed
• No other PowerSchool products were affected
• There is no evidence of malware or continued unauthorized activity

Response and Security Measures

In response to the incident, PowerSchool has:

• Engaged cybersecurity experts and notified law enforcement
• Deactivated the compromised credential
• Implemented a full password reset
• Strengthened access controls for all PowerSource portal accounts
• Confirmed the incident has been contained

Support for Affected Individuals

PowerSchool has committed to:

• Providing credit monitoring for affected adults
• Offering identity protection services for affected minors
• Developing a communications package to support schools in stakeholder outreach
• Organizing webinars with senior leadership to address concerns

The company maintains that while data was accessed, they do not anticipate it being shared publicly and believe it has been deleted without further replication.

According to the Cyberattack Report, PowerSchool continues to operate normally and is working with affected schools to manage the notification process for impacted individuals.

School officials are advising stakeholders to stay alert for further communications regarding this incident and to attend upcoming informational webinars for additional details about the breach and response measures.

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