Region's School System Part of Major Nationwide Data Breach
Free credit monitoring and help protecting kids' identities offered
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND—A data breach for the Mount Desert Island regional school community has prompted the school system to offer free credit monitoring for adults and identity protection services for minors, School Superintendent Mike Zboray said Thursday morning.
The island is not alone. Schools throughout the nation have had their information breached.
Zboray sent a mass email to the community detailing that the PowerSchool system had a cybersecurity breach.
PowerSchool is a large technology software platform that serves schools throughout North America. There was a cyberattack of that cloud-based software system late last month.
That December 28 data breach, according to MSN, led to the theft of “sensitive personal information, such as names, addresses, and in some cases Social Security numbers and medical information…. Data breaches can lead to identity theft, leaving victims vulnerable to fraud and other illegal activities.”
In his letter to the MDIRSS community, Zboray said it wasn’t clear what data was taken.
“Accessed data may have included personally identifiable information such as birthdates, address and phone numbers of staff, students, parents/guardians and emergency contacts,” Zboray wrote.
He also said that PowerSchool has assured the system that:
“All appropriate steps have been taken to further prevent the exposure of information affected by this incident.
“The unauthorized access point has been secured, and there is no evidence of continued activity.
“They do not anticipate the data is being shared or misused, and they believe it has been deleted without any further replication or dissemination.
“They are continuing to monitor for any signs of dissemination as they continue to review the incident.”
Zboray said the school system’s IT staff is working with the company.
“To safeguard affected individuals, PowerSchool will provide credit monitoring for adults and identity protection services for minors. We will share more details about these services as soon as they become available,” he wrote. “We take the security of personal information seriously and are collaborating closely with PowerSchool as they continue to address this situation.”
If you have any immediate questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Luis Jones-Rodriguez, AOS 91 Technology Coordinator at luis.jonesrodriguez@mdirss.org
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