Critical Support for Navigating the PowerSchool Breach

In December 2024, a sophisticated cyber attack targeted PowerSchool, a widely adopted education platform serving school districts nationwide. The breach exposed sensitive data of up to 60 million students and 10 million educators, leading a school district in Pennsylvania to completely shut down its network.

Learn about the details of this breach and how the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center^® (MS-ISAC^®) provided support to the member school district in Pennsylvania.

Disruptions Resulting from the Breach

School districts, students, and their families experienced severe consequences from the breach:

• Data Exposure: The stolen data included Social Security Numbers, medical records, addresses, phone numbers, student IDs, disciplinary notes, and parent information. Threat actors can use this information to perpetuate identity theft, especially against children who may not discover the fraud until years later.
• School System Downtime: At least one district in Pennsylvania completely shut down its network, with others suspending their digital operations and reverting to manual processes.
• Service Disruption: The breach disrupted the following resources at affected school districts:
  • Student information systems
  • Online gradebooks and attendance tracking
  • Parent communication portals
  • Food service and transportation scheduling
    
• Double Extortion: Even after PowerSchool paid a ransom, the attackers used the same school data to extort individual school districts.



• Financial Fallout: The breach triggered costly responses for victims:
  • PowerSchool offered two years of credit monitoring and identity protection to affected individuals.
  • Districts incurred expenses for forensic investigations, legal consultations, and emergency IT support.
  • Identity fraud cost U.S. adults an estimated $43 billion in 2023, according to AARP, underscoring the financial stakes for those affected by the cyber attack.

A Case Study of the MS-ISAC Providing Critical Support

The MS-ISAC helped a member school district in Pennsylvania navigate the wake of this breach:

• Rapid Response: Upon notification by the school district, the MS-ISAC deployed experts to investigate the breach's impact on the member, identify the ransomware variant dropped by threat actors, and confirm that attackers had not stolen any data from the reporting district.
• Root Cause Analysis: The MS-ISAC provided root cause analysis and discovered that the affected system was running an outdated operating system, which likely enabled the attack.



• Forensic and Technical Support: The MS-ISAC provided free forensic analysis, containment strategies, and tailored recommendations to help the member district strengthen its cybersecurity protocols.
• Ongoing Monitoring: The MS-ISAC continues to track related Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) and share intelligence with member districts to prevent further exploitation.

Collective Defense Against Sophisticated Cyber Threats

The incident discussed above shows how the MS-ISAC fills a critical gap for public institutions lacking the resources to respond to sophisticated cyber threats. Without the MS-ISAC's support:

• Schools would need to fend for themselves.
• Children’s personal data would remain vulnerable.
• Communities would face costly disruptions and long-term consequences.

Ready to strengthen your school's cybersecurity posture using the power of community?