The PowerSchool data breach is now under a Canadian privacy investigation
Global News
More than 2.77 million students were impacted by the PowerSchool data breach, according to numbers provided by multiple school boards.
Canada’s privacy commissioner says he’s launching an investigation into the PowerSchool data breach.
That breach led to millions of current and former students and thousands of staff in the country having their data accessed at the end of December 2024.
In a statement on Tuesday, federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne said he had received a breach report from the company and a complaint as well.
While working to obtain more information, he said he is launching an investigation under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
“My immediate focus is on ensuring that the company is taking the necessary steps to address the issue and protect Canadians’ personal information, notably breach containment and measures to reduce risks to those affected, as well as actions to prevent future breaches,” he said.
Dufresne went on to say the company has been notifying Canadians impacted by the breach, with credit monitoring and identity protection services being provided.
He added that his office remains in contact with provincial and territorial privacy counterparts on the matter.
The investigation comes more than a month after the company began to notify PowerSchool users about the data breach, which impacted school boards across most of North America and other countries that PowerSchool serves.
