Alabama student data compromised in PowerSchool hack

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (WSFA) – an online student information platform used by K-12 public schools in Alabama was hit by a cyber attack.

According to the Alabama Department of Education, a cloud-based software platform PowerSchool on Tuesday, the department reported the data breach, which involved unauthorized access to certain information through a community support portal on Dec. 28.

PowerSchool said the hack was related to compromised credentials.

ALSDE officials said Social Security numbers were not compromised for Alabama students or teachers because that is not information the department collects for storage in the PowerSchool system.

Some grades and medical information may have been accessed, but PowerSchool assured customers that this data was never made public or shared.

“PowerSchool will offer credit monitoring and personal data protection services to those whose sensitive data has been compromised. This may or may not include customers in Alabama because, again, we do not collect or store the most sensitive personal data, such as Social Security numbers,” the ALSDE said.

The violation was a a direct attack on PowerSchool all over the world. This was not a cyber attack targeting ALSDE, Alabama students or school systems.

The Elmore County School District says PowerSchool and the state department have notified it of the settlement and are awaiting further details.

Otago District Schools are working to determine the impact on their district.

Selma City Schools say they were not affected.

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