A data breach of a nationally-used software for school student and educator information has North Carolina’s Department of Instruction investigating how its schools are impacted — including Orange County’s two districts.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction received an alert from the software company PowerSchool on Tuesday, Jan. 7, alerting both the state department and North Carolina’s public schools about “a cybersecurity incident that impacted student and teacher data across their global client base.” PowerSchool said it became aware of the breach, which involved unauthorized access to student and teacher data, on Dec. 28 — after that access began on Dec. 19, stemming from compromised credentials of a PowerSchool contract employee. TechCrunch reports the breach involved “sensitive personal information” taken from the software company’s school information system, which holds names, address, Social Security numbers and other key identifiers for both students and teachers.
In a statement shared with school districts, NCDPI said PowerSchool has confirmed the threat “has been contained and the data accessed was destroyed,” with a full incident report incoming from third party cybersecurity experts. The after-action steps also includes monitoring the dark web with law enforcement for any sharing or further exposure of that data.
“NCDPI staff has begun conversations with PowerSchool to better understand the impact, if any, on North Carolina students and educators,” read the state release. “Our staff is also continuing to analyze the impact on the state.”
An example page of the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), which is a tool offered through the education tech company. (Photo via PowerSchool/Software Advice.)
With that, both Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools alerted their communities to the data breach on Wednesday. District administrators sent out to CHCCS families on Wednesday night, while Orange County Schools also alerted their families through a pop-up on the district’s website. The latter does not actively use PowerSchool software any longer, with an Orange County Schools official saying the district moved to using Infinite Campus for its student and staff data in the summer of 2024. But OCS leadership said it was still monitoring the incident and would let their community know more as further details emerge from PowerSchool’s investigation.
“We are waiting to hear from NCDPI how this incident may affect Orange County Schools,” said the district’s alert. “We are presently unable to advise whether any individual’s data has been compromised. We will provide additional updates as information becomes available.”
“As NCDPI investigates, CHCCS will continue to ask questions and receive updates on this matter,” Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools shared with its families. “We will let you know if any action becomes necessary, and we will share updated information as we receive it.”
At the state level, the Department of Public Instruction said no technical actions are necessary from public schools that use the software — and emphasized the breach happened entirely separately from any North Carolina schools or the state department, as the compromised credential was used to access a portal.
“Neither our schools nor DPI have administrative access to the maintenance tunnel where the breach occurred,” said the letter. “Protecting student and educator data is a top priority, and we are taking this matter very seriously. We will continue to provide support and updates as we learn more.”
PowerSchool is the largest provider of cloud-based education software for K-12 education in the country, with the California company’s website saying it serves more than 75% of students in North America and 90 countries around the globe.
Featured photo via AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee.
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