An investigation has been opened looking into the breach of a cloud-based system used by schools across the province, including here in the Lethbridge region.
According to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, to date, there have been 31 breach notices received by the office from education institutions from across the province. According to the statement from the Privacy Commissioner’s office, the notices have included unauthorized access to students’ and educators’ personal information. According to the notice this information includes names, phone numbers, dates of birth, genders, grades, school-issued email addresses, Alberta student ID numbers, and school-issued ID numbers. Health-related information including allergies, medication and medical conditions, as well as personal health number, physician contact information and guardian information, were also included.
In the statement Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod says she takes the rights of Albertans, especially children very seriously.
“We are in the beginning stages of our review of these breach notices and will be working with the affected educational institutions to mitigate the risks to those affected by the breach. We are reviewing the breach notices as they come in to determine the total number of Albertans affected, but it is clear that it is a significant number, including many students. I am also working with my counterparts throughout Canada to address this breach,” McLeod says.
Anyone who has received a notice about the breach and has questions is advised to contact the school organization that provided the notice.
According to the statement released by the OIPC, “Information provided to the OIPC indicates that PowerSchool is offering credit monitoring and identity theft protection to individuals affected by the breach.”
Back on January 9th, Holy Spirit Catholic School Division officials issued a statement saying they were determining the scope of a cyber incident involving the program. In the statement Superintendent of Schools, Chantel Axani said the incident impacted the data of users in not only Canada but also the U.S.
Axani’s statement at the time read, “PowerSchool has assured us that the incident is contained and that they have strengthened their security measures to prevent future breaches.”
