CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — More than 300,000 North Carolina teachers had their Social Security numbers exposed in a recent data breach involving educational platform PowerSchool, and are among millions of others, including students across the country, that are affected.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction said 312,000 teachers statewide are affected. Queen City News requested a county-by-county breakdown of the numbers of those affected, but one was not immediately available Thursday.
PowerSchool provides cloud-based education software to multiple states. The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) noted that the information on the platform includes sensitive information that also includes student grades, assignments, attendance records, and even students’ lunch habits.
NCAE said some educators had been made aware of exposure of their information in Wake and Cumberland counties. However, NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly noted, “Right now, we know it’s a statewide issue.”
The data breach has brought up questions among some cybersecurity experts. Dr. Bill Chu, a professor at UNC Charlotte who has a focus on information security, noted some educational institutions have gone away from using Social Security numbers as an identifier for students.
Chu noted UNC Charlotte, which he said gives students unique student ID numbers, reduces the exposure of a person’s sensitive information. He also noted the need for continued pushes for multi-factor authentication for educational services that require such extensive identifying information.
“It’s not foolproof,” said Chu. “It can still be hacked, but it gives you more protection for sure.”
For the 2024-25 school year, North Carolina school districts have been in the process of transitioning from the PowerSchool platform to another platform, Infinite Campus.
South Carolina has reported their PowerSchool platform was also part of a data breach, with much of it student data. However, Queen City News has learned that some teachers have been informed their identifying information was also exposed.
