The names and addresses of thousands of students and staff may have been exposed as a result of a PowerSchool cyber breach at the Calgary Board of Education.
In an update on Wednesday, the school board said it has confirmed the breach affected students who have been part of the CBE system at any time since September 2018. However, since historical student data from prior years were transferred to the PowerSchool system when it was launched, students who were part of the CBE system before September 2018 may have also been impacted.
Current and former staff who have been part of the CBE system at any time since Sept. 2018 were also affected, the update added. This includes teachers, administration, contractors and other employees whose information was entered into PowerSchool.
The CBE said the following student information may have been accessed and acquired by hackers:
- First, middle and last names
- Home address
- Phone numbers
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Grades
- CBE-issued email address
- Alberta student ID number
- CBE issued ID number
- School names or school codes
- Medical information such as allergies, medications, medical conditions, Alberta Health Care number, doctor contact information, data entered into “open text” fields on PowerSchool and/or supports, and information from the “Guardian Alert” field.
The following teacher information may also have been accessed and acquired by hackers:
- First, middle and last names
- CBE employee numbers
- School name codes
- School addresses and phone numbers
- Department and/or teaching specialty
- CBE-issued email addresses
- Home phone numbers and home addresses if entered into PowerSchool.
“PowerSchool has reported that it does not expect the compromised data to be shared or made public. Additionally, PowerSchool believes the data has been deleted without any further replication or dissemination,” the update read.
“Regardless, the CBE remains committed to addressing this incident and is actively collaborating with PowerSchool to strengthen safeguards and prevent similar occurrences in the future.”
CBE administration said financial information, birth certificates, drivers’ licences, immigration documents and police information check letters are not stored in PowerSchool and thus have not been impacted.
Previously, the CBE said PowerSchool has asked TransUnion and Experian to offer affected students, staff and families two years of free identity protection and credit monitoring services.
Staff and families can find information and enrolment deadlines on the CBE’s website.
“We continue to update the FAQs as more information becomes available,” a spokesperson for the CBE told LiveWire Calgary in an email on Wednesday afternoon.
