Multiple Manitoba school divisions reporting student information system data breach

Manitoba schools hit with data breach Multiple Manitoba schools were hit with data breaches in their student information system. Danton Unger has more.

Several Manitoba school divisions are reporting a data breach of their student information system.

PowerSchool—a third-party student information system provider—was the target of a cybersecurity incident in late December. The Manitoba school divisions affected include Louis Riel, Sunrise, Portage la Prairie, River East Transcona, Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine, Swan Valley, Mountain View, Park West, Beautiful Plains, Brandon, Prairie Spirit, Western, Borderland, Red River Valley, Hanover, and Seine River.

These school divisions have announced that some of their data was accessed. Some are reporting the breach of specific student information, and others have said the names and email addresses of staff were accessed.

The divisions emphasized that PowerSchool, not the divisions, was the target of the incident.

The school divisions noted that PowerSchool has worked with cybersecurity experts to resolve the situation, adding that the accessed data has now been deleted.

They said that PowerSchool is confident the data was not copied or uploaded elsewhere and that the company is working with cybersecurity professionals to monitor the situation.

No other school division systems or data were accessed or compromised in this breach.

The St. James-Assiniboia School Division confirmed that its student data was not impacted by this incident.