After a data breach exposed sensitive information about education workers, cybercriminals have tried to extract money from them.
An investigation by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike revealed that PowerSchool, which runs a popular Student Information System (SIS), had experienced a breach of data affecting millions US students.
PowerSchool SIS helps track student attendance, grades and addresses, as well as very personal data like Social Security Numbers or medical history.
PowerSchool revealed that the names and contact information of “current and past students and educators”, as well as their dates of birth and limited medical alert data, Social Security Numbers and other “related information” were compromised.
After months, school officials and staff from 20 North Carolina schools have confirmed that they were extorted by hackers via threats emails.
WRAL News, a NBC affiliate, reports on the extortion scheme. The extortionists ask for cryptocurrency payments in return for the confidentiality of the victim’s data.
Cybersecurity expert Doug Levin cautioned that while PowerSchool claims that the threat is contained, it’s best to “take this with a grain or salt.”
Says Levin,
More incidents have occurred. The incidents have become more complex. The impact of the releases has also increased, regardless of whether they are talking about amounts or money, or the sensitive nature of information that was released.
There is a trend right now that schools are asking more questions to their partners and vendors in order to ensure they have strong cybersecurity. School systems have started to question their partners and vendors to make sure they are using strong cybersecurity. They are also improving their own cybersecurity practices .”
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Sources of Images include Pixabay Creative Commons & Midjourney
The post Hackers Extorting School Employees Via Email after Millions of Student’s Personal Data was Leaked: Report can be updated as new information becomes available.
