SC

South Carolina Education Department Gives Update On Cyberattack

“Sensitive information exfiltrated…”

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

South Carolina’s Department of Education (SCDE) provided an update to school districts across the Palmetto State on Friday (January 31, 2025) regarding the status of a recent breach of its PowerSource portal.

This portal supports products from PowerSchool – a conglomerate responsible for millions of student information systems nationwide.  According to the statewide agency, the December breach resulted in “sensitive information” being compromised – including the potential jeopardization of social security numbers for “some users.”

PowerSchool became aware of “a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized exfiltration of personal information” on December 28, 2024, according to a statement. As of this writing, the company has not provided information to the public detailing the extent of the breach.

“We are not sharing specifics around the number of districts and schools we believe were involved,” the company’s statement noted. “We are in communication with those customers directly.”

Support FITSNews … SUBSCRIBE!

***

PowerSchool’s statement indicated the company does “not believe” there is an ongoing risk to its systems – and that it has not uncovered any “evidence of malware or continued unauthorized activity.”

What sort of data did the hackers make off with?

“The types of information exfiltrated in the incident may have included one or more of the following: the individual’s name, contact information, date of birth, limited medical alert information, Social Security Number (SSN), and other related information,” the company statement noted.

According to SCDE, the company is beginning the process of notifying individuals as to their potential exposure.

“PowerSchool will begin notifying educators, students, and parents/guardians of students who are under eighteen years old over the next few weeks if their information was involved in the December data breach,” a statement released to at least one local district noted. “The notice received by each individual will include a description of the categories of personal information that were compromised, as well as the identity protection and credit monitoring services offered.”

Customer notifications actually began on January 17.

***

RELATED | CYBERATTACK BEFALLS POWERSCHOOL

***

“In the coming weeks, direct email notifications will go out to involved individuals for whom we have sufficient contact information,” the company noted.

According to the SCDE statement, PowerSchool has engaged credit reporting agency Experian to offer “two years of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services to all students and educators” whose information may have been compromised.

“This offer is being provided regardless of whether an individual’s social security number was stolen,” the statement added. “Experian will also provide a call center to answer questions from the community.”

According to the district, this offer of identity protection and credit monitoring is “specific to this incident” and is only available through PowerSchool’s website.

Count on this media outlet to keep our audience in the loop as to any pertinent new developments related to this story..

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks on phone
Will Folks (Brett Flashnick)

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

***

WANNA SOUND OFF?

Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.

***

Get our newsletter by clicking here …

*****

Related posts

SC

S.C. Attorney General Slams Costco For DEI Policies

Erin Parrott
SC

Palmetto Past and Present: The Happy January of 1781

Mark Powell
SC

Former S.C. Sheriff’s Candidate Retracts 2020 Claim, Issues Apology

Will Folks

Leave a Comment