Nearly 1.5 million students — current and former — in Canada’s largest school board are among those affected by the PowerSchool data breach, which schools across North America use to store student and staff data.
According to an email from a Toronto District School Board spokesperson, approximately 1.49 million students are affected.
“I can confirm that approximately 1.49 million TDSB students have been impacted,” said Emma Moynihan, communications advisor to the school board.
The data was confirmed by the council when Global News inquired about the numbers it reported Online news site BleepingComputerwhich obtained information on the scope of the PowerSchool data breach.
Global News has not independently confirmed the numbers reported by BleepingComputer, which claims that the data of more than 62 million students and 9.5 million teachers across North America was affected.
Among the largest school districts affected by the breach was the Toronto District School Board, the report said, citing roughly the same number of students affected as the numbers the school board provided to Global News.
Other Canadian school boards listed include the Peel Region School Board and the Calgary Board of Education. Global News has reached out to both to confirm the reported numbers and has not received a response from Peel’s board, but Calgary’s said it is considering the request.
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TDSB data affected by the data breach dates back to 1985.
Information such as health card numbers, home addresses and phone numbers for students who attended TDSB anytime between 1985 and 2017 may be affected, while medical information, key notes and dates of birth for students enrolled between 2017 and December 2024 may also be affected. Among the information compromised in the breach .
The school board told Global News that while it does not have total numbers for affected employees, it said the first, middle and last names, employee numbers and TDSB email addresses of some employees were affected.
It also said those whose data may have been accessed or obtained include teachers, principals, office staff, supervisors, guidance counselors and classroom support staff such as educational assistants.
The PowerSchool data breach occurred between December 22 and 28, and affected data from schools in multiple counties.
The US-based cloud software provider said on its website that some “personally identifiable information”, such as Social Security numbers and medical information, was “involved” in the breach, and it was working “urgently” to identify those affected.
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Philippe Dufresne, announced last week that he was reaching out to the company in response to the data breach, adding last Monday that he was “concerned” about the potential impact the incident might have on the personal information of students across the country.
He said his office is working to obtain more information about the breach and is also providing PowerSchool information about responding to the breach and reporting requirements under Canada’s privacy regulations.
In a statement to Global News, PowerSchool said it recognizes “the importance of this incident and deeply regrets that it occurred,” and has worked to prioritize transparency and direct communication with its customers.
Asked to confirm whether the numbers in the BleepingComputer post were accurate, the company said it “does not intend to downplay the numbers in this article,” but stressed that it expects the majority of customers to be affected, “in fact, more than three-quarters,” Social Security numbers were not leaked.
The company added that it will provide two years of free identity protection services and two years of free credit monitoring services to all concerned students whose information was included.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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