Cybersecurity breach of PowerSchool affects students, staff in Cape Breton-Victoria region

The Nova Scotia government says a cybersecurity breach of PowerSchool, a widely used student information system in the province, only affects some staff and current and former students in the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education. 

According to a news release issued Thursday morning, officials were alerted Wednesday afternoon that personal information "was stolen as part of a global PowerSchool cybersecurity breach."

Natasha Clarke, deputy minister of Nova Scotia's Department of Cybersecurity and Digital Solutions, said her team was working with PowerSchool and IBM to determine the full extent of the breach.

"Our investigation is indicating, though, that it is just Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre of Education that was affected by this breach at this point in time," said Clarke, who could not yet say what information has been stolen.

"We do know that there is no banking information, things like that.

"What I want to be cautious of, though, is that we do want to do that deeper analysis on personal information and as soon as we are confident in understanding what's been stolen, we will share more information with Nova Scotians."

Schools across the province use PowerSchool to track enrolment, attendance and grades.

"While the full impact is not yet clear, there is no indication the PowerSchool system in any other centre for education has been affected," the release said.

The company behind PowerSchool told the provincial government the breach is contained but "Nova Scotia is conducting its own investigation to confirm that."

More than 3,000 people work for the Cape Breton-Victoria Centre for Education, which has an enrolment of more than 13,250 students.

Personal information contained within PowerSchool includes birthdates, addresses, allergies, MSI cards, emergency contact information and whether a student has an adaptation.