Bucks County school district affected by PowerSchool breach

💻The breach of student information took place in December

💻Names, student identification numbers, and grade levels were accessed

💻No data was misused, according to PowerSchool

The Pennsbury School District said it was part of a nationwide breach of the company used to provide student information services

PowerSchool informed the district that it was one of many nationwide accessed between Dec. 19 and Dec. 22, according to a message on the district website. The company's security team was able to cut access to its system and contain the breach, according to the statement from school superintendent Thomas A. Smith and Director of Technology Tim McCleary.

School administrators met with PowerSchool on Thursday to be briefed about the breach.

The data on Pennsbury students affected by the breach was names, student identification numbers, and grade levels. Also impacted were staff names and Social Security numbers.

"PowerSchool reported that they are confident the data breach has been contained and that no data was misused, released to additional parties, or made publicly available," read the statement.

Assistance for those impacted

The district said it is providing staff with credit monitoring services for a period of twelve months and access to an independent credit report from a consumer reporting agency. Students will receive identity protection for minors at no cost.

The Lower Merion school district in Montgomery and Trenton public schools have also said they were impacted by the breach. According to the New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell the company will issue a report on the investigation conducted by a third party on Jan. 17.

Attendance, grades and enrollment records are among the information handled by PowerSchool for over 60 million students for over 18,000 districts and schools. The company has not posted any notice on its website or social media about the breach.

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