A hack of PowerSchool, a company that helps schools track student information, is believed to be the largest breach of American children's personal data. The breach exposed the data of tens of millions of students, including names, addresses, birthdays, and potentially Social Security numbers. Cybersecurity experts say the company failed to implement basic security measures, allowing hackers to gain access through a single employee's password. PowerSchool paid the ransom and received a video of the hackers deleting the stolen data, but experts caution that cybercriminals may not honor their promises.
The hack of a company that helps schools track tens of millions of students appears to be the largest breach of American children’s personal information to date, school officials and cybersecurity experts say. And a specially commissioned interim cybersecurity audit by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike showed that the company had apparently failed to take basic precautions to protect students’ data, according to a copy exclusively obtained by NBC News and records of internal discussions.
“But this happens all the time.” Doug Levin, the national director of K12 SIX, an industry nonprofit devoted to helping schools guard themselves from hackers, blamed lax cybersecurity standards across what’s referred to as EdTech, the industry of education-focused technology that schools increasingly rely on, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. Levin told NBC News that the hack and the lack of safeguards were both extreme but still emblematic of the industry.
Security DATA BREACH CYBERSECURITY CHILDREN POWER SCHOOL EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
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