The Nova Scotia Department of Education says a recent cybersecurity breach involving a widely used student information system could have a financial impact on current and former Cape Breton teachers and staff.
The department released a statement Saturday saying an investigation into the breach of the PowerSchool system, used across North America, confirmed that some social security numbers collected before 2010 were included in the data stolen in the breach.
As a result, the ministry says approximately 250 current and former employees of the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Education Center should monitor their bank accounts for irregular activity.
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The ministry says current and former staff members will be contacted by the provincial government for credit protection.
On Thursday, Nova Scotia officials said the security breach, first reported Wednesday, also affected schools in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.
In Ontario, the Toronto, Peel and Durham district school boards issued notices of a “cyber incident” targeting PowerSchool.
At the time, advice said the U.S.-based third-party vendor that offers the cloud-based software suffered a data breach between Dec. 22 and Dec. 28, which also affected Alberta schools .
At the time, the company said the breach was contained.
“We take our responsibility to protect student data privacy very seriously and act responsibly as data processors,” the company said in its statement Wednesday.
PowerSchool is typically used to track enrollment, attendance, and grades.
It does not include medical information or financial data, such as credit card numbers. But it does include dates of birth, addresses, allergy alerts, health card numbers, emergency contact information and whether a student has any accommodations.
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