HINESBURG, Vt. (WCAX) – Experts say a cyber security incident that impacted schools in Vermont and around the country was foreseeable.
The Champlain Valley School District announced in a letter sent to families this week that data was compromised. The software program PowerSchool is used by upwards of 39 Vermont school districts to track things like attendance, enrollment, and finances. Officials say not all schools were affected.
Adam Goldstein with the Leahy Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics says these types of breaches happen within school districts, hospitals, or local governments because they often don’t have strong enough protections. PowerSchool says they will provide credit and identity theft monitoring services for those impacted by the breach.
PowerSchool says they will provide credit and identity theft monitoring services for those impacted by the breach.
“I would strongly advise any Vermont residents that receive this offer to take advantage of it because that’s the biggest concern — is if personally identifiable information was released in the breach,” Goldstein said.
As for school districts, he recommends they review their cybersecurity strategy, know where valuable information is stored and what protections are in place, and evaluate partnerships with software providers. He also says that districts should create plans for what they should do in the event of a breach.