PowerSchool Cybersecurity Breach Update
PowerSchool LLC has provided the following update on its response to the December 2024 cybersecurity breach that affected Smyth County Public Schools and hundreds of additional school systems that use PowerSchool as their student information system. In a letter to affected school systems, PowerSchool CDO Hardeep Gulati relayed the following updates:
PowerSchool will offer two years of complimentary identity protection services for all students and educators whose information was exfiltrated from PowerSchool Student Information Systems, including Smyth County's. This will include two years of complimentary credit monitoring services for all adult students and educators whose information was involved, regardless of whether an individual’s Social Security number was exfiltrated.
Experian, a trusted credit reporting agency, will help PowerSchool provide these services. Details on how to
enroll will be included as part of individual notifications. As the offer is specific to this incident, the details
contained in the forthcoming enrollment notification will be required to enroll, and cannot be obtained
directly from Experian.
Credit monitoring agencies do not offer credit monitoring services for individuals under the age of 18. If a
parent/guardian enrolls an individual under the age of 18 in the offered identity protection services, the
individual, upon turning 18, will have the opportunity to enroll in credit monitoring services for the
duration of the two-year coverage period.
Notifications
PowerSchool will be handling notification to individuals and state attorney general offices on behalf of Smyth County Public Schools and its other clients who were affected by the breach. The notice received by each individual will include a description of the categories of personal information that were exfiltrated and the identity protection and credit monitoring services offered (as applicable). PowerSchool will publish the notice on its website, circulate the notice to local media, and send the notice to email addresses, where available, of involved individuals. Experian will also provide a call center to answer questions from the community.
Timing
PowerSchool intends to begin the notification process for relevant students, parents/guardians of students, educators, and state attorney general offices (as applicable) in the next few weeks.
Additional Information
Please continue to monitor our website and PowerSchool LLC's site for additional updates on the security breach and PowerSchool's response.