School boards servicing the Greater Sudbury area were not among the several school boards in Ontario affected by a “cyber incident” that could have exposed student and staff information.
Sudbury.com reached out to the Rainbow District School Board, Sudbury Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire du Grand Nord and Conseil scolaire catholique Nouvelon.
Board officials say none of them use the affected PowerSchool system, an American application used by school boards to store student and staff information.
A paywalled story on the Village Media provincial affairs website The Trillium said 10 Ontario school boards have been impacted by the cyber incident, according to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
That includes several Northern Ontario boards — the Near North and Rainy River District School Boards and the Thunder Bay, Northwest and Northeastern Catholic District School Boards.
Other affected boards include some of the biggest in the province — the Toronto District School Board, Peel District School Board and York Region District School Board.
"The possibility that the sensitive personal information of students and staff has been exposed is very troubling," the commissioner told The Trillium.
The Near North District School Board, which services the North Bay area, said that this past Tuesday, PowerSchool notified the board that it had experienced a data breach Dec. 22-28, 2024.
The board issued a statement to parents and guardians Thursday, confirming “a cyber incident” had occurred. The letter detailed, “Our cybersecurity team promptly activated our response plan, taking immediate steps to ensure that our critical systems remain operational.”
Has personal information been accessed in the “cyber incident?” The board has provided no information on that.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation” with PowerSchool, the Near North District School Board’s release noted, “To understand the nature of the incident and what personal information may have been affected.”
The board explained that “PowerSchool has informed us that it has received confirmation that the data accessed by an unauthorized user has been deleted and that no copies of this date were posted online.”
Sudbury.com sister site BayToday reached out to the Near North board for further comment. It had none, noting, “The board will not be commenting further; any updates will be issued to families, and posted on our website.”
The board’s release to families explained, “When we determine what personal information has been impacted, we will let you know as soon as possible.”
The board has also notified the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner of the incident, the letter noted.
“We know this news may be concerning, but please know that we are doing everything possible to learn more from PowerSchool about what occurred and will share that information with you,” the board’s letter detailed.
-With files from BayToday.ca and TheTrillium.ca
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com's assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
