The Dallas Independent School District is sharing important information about a data breach that has affected Dallas ISD and many other districts. PowerSchool, the company that provides the student information system used by our district, recently notified us of a cybersecurity incident affecting their data systems, which compromised their company-level security. The compromised data included personal identifiable student and staff information from districts around the globe.
PowerSchool took immediate steps to address the incident and protect their clients, and they have assured us the incident was contained before any of the compromised data was replicated or disseminated. Their response team indicates there is no evidence of additional unauthorized activity, and they will continue working with a cybersecurity technology company to monitor the public domain to ensure the data remains secure. They are also working with federal agencies to identify the person(s) responsible.
Again, PowerSchool shared that all the downloaded data has been destroyed. The investigation is ongoing, and we will share more information as it becomes available.
PowerSchool will be providing credit monitoring to affected adults and identity protection services to affected minors in accordance with regulatory and contractual obligations. We expect more details to come.
Because no passwords were accessed for student, staff, or parent portal accounts, and because of the process Dallas ISD uses to log in to PowerSchool, there is no need for password changes in the district at this time.
While PowerSchool continues to investigate, we recommend the following precautionary measures:
- Report any suspicious activity to the district’s Information Security team via a ticket in ServiceNow for students/staff or a ticket in Let’s Talk for community members.
- Be cautious of phishing and social engineering and be vigilant about unexpected emails or calls requesting personal or school information. Dallas ISD IT Help Desk will never ask you for your current password.
Dallas ISD takes any breach of sensitive information entrusted in our care seriously and continues to work diligently to do everything possible to prevent cybersecurity issues with the systems under our control. The district will provide additional updates when more information is received from PowerSchool.
