School Software Provider is the Latest Target laptop keyboard and

School Software Provider is the Latest Target of Major Hack of Personal Data

January 9, 2025 – The sensitive data of millions of American adults and children have been compromised after hackers targeted California-based education software company PowerSchool, the company confirmed this week.

The breach happened at the end of December, and new information confirmed by TechCrunch says that hackers were able to access student addresses, Social Security numbers, grades, and medical information on the platform, which schools use for student records, grades, attendance and enrollment.

The names, phone numbers, and emails of parents and guardians were also potentially compromised, the company said. Hackers were able to use a stolen credential, or login, to access the internal customer support portal, the company said. PowerSchool currently has 16,000 customers, and is used by more than 50 million students across North America, the company confirmed.

The incident is the latest large-scale data breach in the U.S., as year after year, the number of cybercrimes continues to rise. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 880,418 complaints in 2023, a 10% increase from the complaints registered the year prior, and nearly double the number of crimes reported in 2019. The agency estimates potential monetary losses due to cybercrime since 2019 to be $37.4 billion.

Many breaches come from accounts purchased on the so-called Dark Web, a vast expanse of the internet that is inaccessible to most conventional browsers, said Rob Scott, Dallas-based managing partner of technology law firm Scott & Scott LLP.

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