PowerSchool Data Breach Exposes 16,000 UK Students’ Personal Information

[techstack]

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PowerSchool, a major U.S. edtech company, has confirmed that a December 2024 data breach compromised the personal information of 16,000 students across four U.K. schools. Hackers gained access to the company’s customer support portal using stolen credentials, exposing sensitive details like contact information, birth dates, and limited medical records.

While PowerSchool has started notifying affected individuals outside the U.S. and Canada, it has refused to disclose the total number of impacted students globally. Reports suggest the breach affected over 62 million students and 9.5 million teachers, but PowerSchool has neither confirmed nor denied these figures.

Despite the severity of the breach, the company has chosen not to offer credit monitoring services to non-U.S. victims. It has also not reported the incident to the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), claiming that it does not qualify as a “data controller” under U.K. data protection laws.

This lack of transparency raises concerns about accountability, leaving affected students, parents, and educators with little recourse. TechCrunch has reached out to the ICO for clarification on PowerSchool’s legal stance. Meanwhile, cybersecurity experts warn that breaches of this scale could have long-term implications for student privacy and data security.

source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/07/powerschool-data-breach-affected-16000-students-in-the-uk/

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