We wanted to share an important update about a cyber incident experienced by PowerSchool, the York Region District School Board’s student information system provider. PowerSchool is an application used by many school boards across North America and used by the YRDSB to store student demographic and class information and a limited amount of school-based staff information.
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, PowerSchool notified school boards in Ontario and across North America that they experienced a data breach between December 22-28, 2024.
Our cybersecurity team promptly activated our response plan, and have determined that our critical systems remain secure and operational.
Working with PowerSchool, we are conducting a thorough investigation to understand the nature of the incident and what personal information may have been affected. At this point in time, we are still assessing the exact information that may have been accessed or exported from the application. PowerSchool has confirmed that the data accessed by an unauthorized user has been deleted and that no copies of this data were posted online.
If it is determined that any personal information has been affected, we will let you know as soon as possible.
This is all the information the Board has at this time.
We know this news may be concerning, and that you may have questions but please know that we are doing everything possible to learn more from PowerSchool about what occurred.
We will continue to update staff and the community as more information becomes available as PowerSchool continues their investigation.