A cybersecurity breach at the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education (CB-VRCE).
The province says they were advised, Wednesday, about a breach through the global PowerSchool portal.
It’s an information system used for 135,000 public school students across the province and tracks things like enrollment, attendance and grades but does not include medical or financial information like credit card numbers.
Personal information like MSI cards, allergies, birthdays, addresses and emergency contact information was stolen from some staff as well as current and former students.
At CB-VRCE, there are about 3,000 staff and more than 13,250 students, but the extent of the breach is not exactly clear at this time, with no indication any other school board was affected.
In a statement, Education Minister Brendan Maguire says the breach is being taken very seriously.
“We are sharing information with families and affected staff and will continue to update them as we know more.”
NSTU urges N.S. to act quickly
The Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) is urging the province to act quickly to notify those affected and are seeking more information.
In a statement on social media, President of NSTU Peter Day says, “we expect the province to conduct a full and proper investigation into this breach while taking needed steps to protect the privacy of students, teachers and staff.”
PowerSchool says the breach has been contained but the province is working to confirm that and has also advised the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and jurisdictions around the world were also affected.
