Texas sues PowerSchool over breach compromising info of over 880000 students teachers

pWEATHER ALERTppNinfa Saavedra Digital Content SpecialistppPublished September 3 2025 at 238 PMppUpdated September 4 2025 at 327 PMppRecommended VideosppNinfa Saavedra Digital Content SpecialistppTEXAS Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against PowerSchool a Californiabased provider of cloudbased services for K12 schools after an unprecedented data breach exposed the sensitive personal identifying information and protected health information of more than 880000 Texas schoolaged children and teachers ppAccording to Paxton PowerSchools software collects processes and secures sensitive information that Texas schools require from parents enrolling their children and from their employees ppRecommended VideosppPowerSchool markets itself as an allinone platform for managing student information enrollment and other school operations and promotes its software as meeting the highest security standards and offering stateoftheart protections for student and employee data ppPaxton said contrary to these claims the company failed to implement the most basic security features including multifactor authentication adequate access controls and proper data encryptionppThe State has reason to believe that numerous Independent School Districts in Texas use PowerSchools SIS software to store PII PHI and other SPI including but not limited to Dallas Frisco Plano McKinney Houston Katy Lovejoy and moreppPaxton said in December 2024 a hacker used a subcontractors account to gain administrative access and transferred large amounts of unencrypted data to a foreign server ppThe stolen information included names addresses Social Security numbers medical details disability records special education data and bus stopswhich can be used to physically locate Texas children ppThe lawsuit alleges that PowerSchools failures violate both the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act by misleading customers about its security practices and failing to take reasonable measures to protect sensitive information entrusted by Texas families and school districtsppIf Big Tech thinks they can profit off managing childrens data while cutting corners on security they are dead wrong said Attorney General Paxton Parents should never have to worry that the information they provide to enroll their children in school could be stolen and misused My office will do everything we can to hold PowerSchool accountable for putting Texas students teachers and families at riskppThe Houston Independent School District the largest school district in Texas uses HISD Connect by PowerSchool for Student Information System SIS The district says it contains information on student contact enrollment demographics grades and online resources Parents of each student are given an access ID which they can use to create an account to access their students profile through the parent portal The school should contact parents whose students havent been provided with an access IDppHISD says PowerSchool told the district that its data was not affected by the breachppTo learn more about the districts use of PowerSchool click here ppPowerSchool released the following statement regarding the lawsuit ppFrom the moment PowerSchool became aware of this incident back in December of 2024 we worked nonstop to minimize any impact on students families educators and school districts We quickly notified relevant regulators on our customers behalf in applicable jurisdictions as well as students or their parentsguardians and educators in the US and Canada We continued supporting customers throughout our investigation and offered complimentary identity protection services including if applicable credit monitoring services for involved students and educators regardless of whether an individuals information was exfiltrated On March 7 we shared the final CrowdStrike Incident Report with our customers and called out key learnings from the incident on our website With respect to the lawsuit being filed by Texas Attorney General PowerSchool intends to vigorously defend itself and to continue to prioritize the customers communities and individuals PowerSchool serves ppCopyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston All rights reservedppemailppRecommended VideosppTV ListingsppEmail NewslettersppRSS FeedsppContests and RulesppContact UsppMeet the TeamppCareers at KPRCppClosed Captioning Audio DescriptionppPublic FileppCurrent EEO ReportppTerms of UseppPrivacy PolicyppDo Not Sell My InfoppFCC ApplicationsppCookie PreferencesppIf you need help with the Public File call 713 7784745ppAt KPRC we are committed to informing and delighting our audience In our commitment to covering our communities with innovation and excellence we incorporate Artificial Intelligence AI technologies to enhance our news gathering reporting and presentation processes Read our article to see how we are using Artificial IntelligenceppCopyright 2025 Click2Houstoncom is managed 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