On Tuesday afternoon, January 7, 2025, Anderson 3, along with other districts across the US and Canada, was informed by PowerSchool of a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to their student information system (SIS) in late December 2024. The breach occurred through a compromised customer support credential belonging to a PowerSchool contractor.
This incident is part of a large, international cybersecurity breach impacting a significant portion of PowerSchool’s customer base. PowerSchool has taken full responsibility for the breach, emphasizing that member school districts are not at fault. The company has assured its customers that the unauthorized access has been contained, and the compromised credential has been deactivated. Powerschool has also partnered with a third party for payment to the hackers to delete the stolen data and is monitoring the dark web for any signs of leaked information.
We are continuing to investigate as a district any information that was possibly compromised. Some personally identifiable information was stored on the tables accessed, but as a district, it is our policy to never store Social Security Numbers in PowerSchool. We can also confirm that student passwords were not compromised, as they are stored in an encrypted format.
Anderson 3 is working closely with PowerSchool and the South Carolina Department of Education to address the situation. Once further details are available, impacted individuals will be contacted directly by PowerSchool in coordination with state education officials.
The security and privacy of our students, staff, and families remain a top priority for Anderson 3. We will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.
South Carolina Department of Education Press Release: Click Here