PowerSchool Cyber Incident

March 4, 2025

Update on PowerSchool Cybersecurity Incident

On January 7^th, PowerSchool shared it was the target of a cybersecurity incident, resulting in the exfiltration of some of PowerSchool SIS customers’ data by an unauthorized user.  PowerSchool immediately took corrective measures necessary to ensure the safety of our district’s data, and over the last several weeks made available credit and identity monitoring services to affected individuals. Affected users were emailed directly but you can also access the credit monitoring and identity management resources here. https://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/notice-of-united-states-data-breach/

 PowerSchool also retained industry-leading cybersecurity expert CrowdStrike to conduct a thorough investigation. CrowdStrike did not find any new or concerning findings beyond what PowerSchool already shared. The report confirms:

• The Threat Actor accessed PowerSource, a community-focused customer support portal, using a single compromised credential.
• The Threat Actor’s activities were limited to exfiltration of select PowerSchool SIS instances of [certain objects within the] Students and Teachers tables. 
• CrowdStrike’s Recon+ Intelligence service has not identified any evidence of this exfiltrated information available for sale or download.
• CrowdStrike found no evidence of system-layer access or malware associated with this incident.
• CrowdStrike found no other PowerSchool products were compromised.
• While the PowerSource environment experienced unauthorized activity prior to December, PowerSchool believes that the data exfiltration at issue occurred in late December.

For full access to the report from CrowdStrike, email PowerSchoolBreach@d49.org

In Partnership with You,

District 49

Communication to families

Communication to staff

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at PowerSchoolBreach@d49.org . In addition, a Question and Answer session for our D49 community will be hosted in the coming days. You will find that information here when it is available.  

January 14th update: 

Data accessed in the PowerSchool breach included currently enrolled District 49 students as well as our past students going back to 2017.  

PowerSchool has released a website where families and parents can learn more about what happened, what resources are available or will be available and the steps PowerSchool is taking. Learn more through the link below.

https://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/

 

PowerSchool Parent Portal:

Account Creation Guide: Get Started

PowerSchool is the District’s web-based tool providing real-time insights on student grades, schedules, performance, and attendance.

Check with the front desk at your child's school to obtain access to your PowerSchool Parent Portal. They may create the account for you. Otherwise, the school will provide you with your Access ID and Password, you will need to have at least one student Access ID and Password to create an account. If you have multiple students in our district, you will need to obtain an Access ID and Password for each of those students to link each of your students as you create the account.  

 

Set-up your account (Each parent/guardian may create their own account)

Step 1: Open your Web browser to https://d49.powerschool.com

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Step 2: On the Sign In screen, choose the “Create Account” tab and click on “Create Account” at the bottom of the Create an Account window.

Click “Create Account” 

Verify by clicking on “Create Account”

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Step 3: Complete the information requested

Please make sure you use your name as you provided it to the District   An example is if you have a hyphenated name like Sue Smith-Baker but you usually only go by Sue Baker the system will require you to use Sue Smith-Baker or it won't allow you to create the account. 

You will also need to use the email account we have on file(the one you received with the Access ID and Access Password).  If you try to use a different email you will have problems and the account won't create.

The last suggestion is to also make sure to follow the password rules.  The password you pick must be 8 characters long and contain at least one of each of the following 1-capital letter, 1-lowercase letter, 1-number, and 1-special character.  

When you follow the directions from the  PS Parent Account Creation Guide D49 (PDF attachment), the second part of the set up instructions explains you can link your student’s account by showing you where to enter the student’s first and last name(must be typed just as you provided to us for registration). You will then be asked to enter your Access ID and password, then it will ask you for your relationship to the student (this would mother, father not son, daughter).  

Link Students to Account: Student Name - Enter the first and last name of the student you want to add to your account.

Parent Access ID and Password - Enter the unique Access ID and Password that you receive in the mail. Contact your school if you do not have this information.

Relationship – Choose how you are related to the student

Access ID and Access Password are case sensitive. Click on the relationship dropdown arrow to choose your relationship to the student. 

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Step 4: After completing all information, click “Enter” at the bottom of the page.

 

Note: If you get an error message, please verify information entered and re-submit. 

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Step 5: Sign-in to test your new account at https://d49.powerschool.com. Your screen should look similar to the image below:

 

Account Preferences allows you to change your e-mail address, username or password. You may also add additional students to your account.

PowerSchool Mobile App is available for iOS and Android devices. Use District code listed on this screen.

NOTE: Schools are responsible for what is available on your parent portal. Each school might have different views. Please contact your child’s school for more information.

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