P.E.I. parents concerned about children's data leaked in PowerSchool breach, says federation

Many Islanders are concerned about the recent PowerSchool breach, especially when it comes to privacy issues around their children, says the P.E.I. Home and School Federation.

"I think parents are worried about what's going to happen down the road... and how can they be assured that their children's privacy and their private information is going to be safe," said David Schult, the federation's president.

On Jan. 7, PowerSchool, a third-party data management software used by P.E.I. schools, notified the provincial government that the personal data of current and former students and staff may have been compromised.

In a news release late last week, the provincial government said the personal data of roughly 70,000 students in the K-12 system was accessed, with some records dating back to 2003.

Students' personal information, such as names, date of birth, gender, grade level, school information, medical information, addresses and phone numbers may have been compromised.

The names, employee IDs, school names and email addresses of teachers and staff dating back to 2021 were also acquired. In less than 10 per cent of those cases, information on home addresses, phone numbers, dates of transfers between schools, extended leaves or retirements was accessed.

Schools in Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Ontario were also affected by the breach. 

'They share their information readily'

Schult said older students in P.E.I. are less worried than their parents about the potential for their personal information to be leaked.

"The information they share on TikTok is out there for everyone to see and every other social media site that they visit. So, this is not such a big deal for the older students. They share their information readily, anyway."

PowerSchool has said it will notify those affected by the breach and offer two years of free identity protection services and two years of free credit monitoring services for students who are now adults.

Schult said the complementary services are a start, but it would be a relief for many if PowerSchool can guarantee that young children will have that protection when they turn 18.

CBC News reached out to PowerSchool for an interview but the company declined to comment.

Maintain good 'cyber hygiene'

Nur Zincir-Heywood, an associate dean of research in the faculty of computer science at Dalhousie University, said when data breaches happen there are expectations that more scams, fraudulent activities and impersonation will happen.

Since P.E.I. education authorities don't store social insurance numbers, financial or banking information in the PowerSchool system, Zincir-Heywood said that is "some good news."

The more sensitive the information is, she said, the more the hacker can use it to impersonate someone.

Island Morning9:28Cybersecurity in schools

The province has recently given students, parents and school staff involved in the PowerSchool cyber incident on P.E.I. new advice on how to better protect themselves from future cyber threats. We spoke with a cybersecurity expert about the biggest risks from the incident and what steps people can take.

She said it's good if the breach makes people more cautious, because being on guard helps prevent bad things from happening online.

"It's not about being panicked," she said. "We are going to be more and more in our cyber worlds… on platforms. This is not going away." 

Zincir-Heywood said anyone affected by the breach should maintain their "cyber hygiene," such as having strong passwords, monitoring bank accounts and credit card statements, and not immediately clicking on files or links from emails or text messages before verifying who sent them.

"Keep calm and carry on," she said. "But be cautious."