Schools in the York Regional District School Board have been caught up in a data breach with a computer program used in schools across North America.
On Monday, Jan. 7, PowerSchool, the York board’s student information system provider, told YRDSB and other school boards in Ontario and across North America that they experienced a data breach between Dec. 22 to 28, 2024, the school board said in a news release.
PowerSchool is an application used by the YRDSB to store student demographic and class information, as well as a limited amount of school-based staff information.
“Our cybersecurity team promptly activated our response plan, and have determined that our critical systems remain secure and operational,” YRDSB said.
“Working with PowerSchool, we are conducting a thorough investigation to understand the nature of the incident and what personal information may have been affected,” the board added. “At this point in time, we are still assessing the exact information that may have been accessed or exported from the application. PowerSchool has confirmed that the data accessed by an unauthorized user has been deleted and that no copies of this data were posted online.”
Other local school boards, including Toronto and Durham Region were impacted. The YRDSB added that the software is used by many school boards across North America, with schools in several other province and states in the U.S. impacted by the breach.
YRDSB said an investigation is ongoing, adding it will let parents know "if it is determined that any personal information has been affected."
California-based software company PowerSchool claims its products are used by 76 per cent of Canadian students on its website.
PowerSchool did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
