"After more information came to light and working with PowerSchool it does appear that a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain PowerSchool data did occur," said Wes DeSantis, director of educational technology at Ridgefield Public Schools, in an email to the school community on Friday.
PowerSchool is the provider of the district's student information system.
"PowerSchool informed us that the compromised data primarily includes parent and student contact information with data elements such as name and address information," the email said.
"They have also determined that for a portion of individuals, some personally identifiable information (PII) and medical information may have been impacted. They are working with urgency to complete their investigation and determine whether PII belonging to our community members was included," the email said.
Ridgefield is one of a handful of school districts across Connecticut that has notified parents about the cybersecurity data breach involving PowerSchool.
The school districts in Milford, Wallingford, Danbury, Region 16 and East Hartford are also among those affected, according to the districts.
On Jan. 7, PowerSchool released a statement to administrators about the cybersecurity incident that took place on Dec. 28, which stated an unauthorized party gained access to certain PowerSchool Student Information System customer data using a compromised credential and their data was accessed, the statement said.
As soon as the company learned of the incident, it immediately engaged with their cybersecurity response protocols and mobilized a cross-functional response team, including senior leadership and third-party cybersecurity experts, a PowerSchool spokesperson has said.
To contain the data breach, PowerSchool has deactivated the compromised credentials and restricted all access to the affected portal.
DeSantis told Hearst Connecticut Media that PowerSchool is conducting an investigation and should have more information to share with all school districts in the next week or two.
"Sadly, we live in a time where a lot of our data is stored with third-party services — government agencies, insurance, banking, etc. — and sometimes those services get compromised," he said.
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