South Orange-Maplewood Superintendent of Schools Jason Bing sent an email to district families today acknowledging the cybersecurity breach of PowerSchool, a major education technology software platform used by school districts across North American, including SOMSD.
PowerSchool recently confirmed the theft of sensitive student and teacher information following a cyberattack in late December 2024.
Bing did not specifically indicate in his letter that SOMSD data had been breached but wrote, “While some personal data may have been accessed, PowerSchool has assured us that the issue is contained and steps have been taken to secure their systems.”
Village Green has emailed Bing and the district communications director seeking clarification.
Bing noted that, “Independent of forthcoming PowerSchool actions, SOMSD has generated new API credentials for data access to PowerSchool for key third-party data access.”
Village Green will continue to follow this story.
Read Bing’s January 9 email here:
Dear SOMSD families,
We want to share an update about a recent incident involving PowerSchool, the trusted education technology provider we use to manage student records. PowerSchool experienced a cybersecurity issue that impacted K-12 districts across the country. While some personal data may have been accessed, PowerSchool has assured us that the issue is contained and steps have been taken to secure their systems.
On December 28, 2024, PowerSchool discovered that someone had obtained a support password to access their PowerSource customer support portal. This allowed access to numerous school districts’ Student Information System (SIS), which is used to manage tabled information such as grades, attendance, and names. Social Security numbers are not part of this information.
While PowerSchool is still investigating, they are taking every precaution to ensure your information remains safe.
To address the issue and prevent any further risks, PowerSchool has involved cybersecurity experts to secure the affected systems/credentials and notified law enforcement. PowerSchool confirmed that the incident is contained, and the data is not expected to be shared or made public.
PowerSchool is preparing resources to help families understand what happened, including FAQs, talking points, and webinars with their experts. We understand that hearing about situations like this can be concerning. Please know that as a district, we are working closely with PowerSchool to ensure your information remains protected moving forward.
Independent of forthcoming PowerSchool actions, SOMSD has generated new API credentials for data access to PowerSchool for key third-party data access.
We will update you as necessary based on any additional information that we receive.
