Earlier this week, PowerSchool notified us that the Neosho School District was among PowerSchool’s many worldwide clients whose data may have been accessed during a cybersecurity incident. PowerSchool became aware of the incident on December 28, 2024.

Upon PowerSchool’s investigation into this breach, it was confirmed that an unauthorized user accessed data stored in the PowerSchool cloud-hosted system on December 21, 2024.

What happened?

According to PowerSchool, someone used a compromised internal PowerSchool credential to access data stored in their Student Information System (SIS). When PowerSchool became aware of the incident, they notified law enforcement, locked down the system and engaged the services of CyberSteward, a professional advisor with experience in negotiating with threat actors. 

What data could have been accessed?

Members of the NSD team attended an online briefing from PowerSchool at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 8, to learn more about how NSD specifically may have been impacted.

Initial information from PowerSchool indicates that Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for staff and students may have been accessed for some districts nationwide. 

What does this mean for NSD?

• No student or staff login credentials were compromised.

• Contact information of current and former students and teachers were accessed.

• Some previous and current faculty members’ social security numbers were accessed because SSNs are required for state reporting and stored in PowerSchool. 

• Some health notes were accessed, this did not include nurse office visits or immunization records.

• They did not access discipline referrals, grades, student emails or attendance.

Once PowerSchool confirms who may have been impacted, we will work with PowerSchool to ensure that any impacted individuals are notified and that appropriate next steps are taken.

What we know so far?

PowerSchool has received assurance from the source of the breach that the data has been deleted and no further copies exist. They believe that the data will not be shared or made public, and have confirmed its deletion through video evidence. PowerSchool is actively monitoring the dark web to ensure no further misuse of the data.

What happens next?

PowerSchool has stated, “While we are unaware of and do not expect any actual or attempted misuse of personal information or any financial harm to impacted individuals as a result of this incident, PowerSchool will be providing credit monitoring to affected adults and identity protection services to affected minors in accordance with regulatory and contractual obligations.”

PowerSchool is responsible for this incident and its impact. It was a nationwide event on their systems and not isolated to the Neosho School District.

Crowdstrike is working directly with PowerSchool to investigate the incident and anticipates a full report will be available around Friday, January 17, 2025.  

Who can I contact with questions and concerns?

We anticipate PowerSchool will provide impacted individuals with resources and additional information which we will share when it is made available to us. We will also post updates about this situation on our website and in ParentSquare.

The Neosho School District is committed to protecting our student, staff and family data and will continue to communicate with transparency about this event. Any and all updates about this incident will be shared as our understanding progresses.