Fort McMurray Public School Division Notifies Parents of Data Breach

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — The Fort McMurray Public School Division (FMPSD) says some parent and student information may have been compromised following a recent hack of U.S.-based educational technology company PowerSchool.

FMPSD says it was contacted by PowerSchool on Jan. 7 and informed of a security incident on its system that occurred in December. The incident was quickly contained by CrowdStrike, a third-party cybersecurity expert. FMPSD says law enforcement has been notified and is investigating the attack.

The division informed parents of the breach on Jan. 9, and they are advising them to be cautious of potential phone and email scams and to avoid sharing personal information. FMPSD says it expects to learn more about the scope and scale of the breach in the coming days and will provide updates to those affected.

The Fort McMurray Catholic School Division was not impacted, as it uses different IT systems and providers.

PowerSchool, based in California and owned by Bain Capital, is North America’s largest provider of cloud-based education software for K-12 schools.