Safeguarding Your School’s Information Against Data Breaches

Understanding the PowerSchool breach

PowerSchool's Student Information System (SIS) is popular education software for K-12 schools. It tracks student details like their name, address, school, birthday, and parents’ names — with some implementations adding further information like health matters, disciplinary records, and Social Security numbers.

Last month, PowerSchool announced the occurrence of a cybersecurity incident that led to unauthorized access to student and staff information, highlighting the growing threats to educational institutions. Such breaches can result in identity theft, unauthorized transactions, and a loss of trust within the community.

Immediate steps to mitigate cyber risks

If your school was affected by the breach, it’s crucial to take immediate actions:

• Conduct a thorough assessment — Engage professionals to assess the breach’s impact, identify compromised data, and understand its scope.
• Educate and train staff — Train staff and educators on recognizing cyber threats. The information disclosed may be used to identify and access other systems.
• Strengthen access controls — Review and tighten access controls and implement multi-factor authentication where possible — especially on externally accessible systems.
• Consider credit monitoring or credit freezes for individuals at risk from Personally Identifiable Information data loss.

How CLA can help with cybersecurity

CLA provides robust cybersecurity solutions tailored to educational institutions. CLA offers detailed assessments to identify vulnerabilities, including:

• Risk assessments to evaluate potential risks and threats to information systems
• Incident response planning
• Vulnerability scanning and penetration testing to identify weaknesses before they can be exploited by a malicious actor
• Controls assessments to validate that best practices are implemented to secure the school’s information systems environment

The PowerSchool breach highlights vulnerabilities but also offers an opportunity to strengthen your cybersecurity posture. By taking immediate steps and leveraging CLA’s experience, we can help protect our schools’ information and our children’s data.