WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — The City of Winston-Salem is dealing with another “cyber event,” according to a statement released by Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the school district was told that an unauthorized party accessed its system and other school systems across the state, nation and world.
“Information about WS/FCS students, families and staff was accessed during this incident,” WS/FCS said.
North Carolina’s student information system provider PowerSchool said steps have been taken to prevent the data from misuse, and officials believe the data has been deleted.
“According to PowerSchool, the incident is contained and they do not anticipate the data being shared or made public. Law enforcement officials are monitoring to ensure the information has not been spread or shared,” WS/FCS said.
The full statement is provided below:
Tuesday afternoon, January 7, the state of North Carolina’s student information system provider, PowerSchool, notified the district that an unauthorized party gained access to its system. School systems across the state, nation and world were impacted, including WS/FCS. Information about WS/FCS students, families and staff was accessed during this incident.
The incident is under investigation by PowerSchool, federal law enforcement, and NC Department of Public Instruction officials. PowerSchool reported that steps were taken to prevent the data from further misuse and the company believes the data has been deleted. According to PowerSchool, the incident is contained and they do not anticipate the data being shared or made public. Law enforcement officials are monitoring to ensure the information has not been spread or shared.
WS/FCS is working closely with PowerSchool and NC DPI to identify what information was accessed and to determine what steps will be taken by PowerSchool to support any individual whose data has been breached.
NC DPI says there was no action WS/FCS could have taken to prevent this incident, which happened at the company level.
PowerSchool is a web-based platform school systems are required by North Carolina to use to maintain student and staff data. Protecting student and staff information is critically important, and WS/FCS takes this issue seriously.
We will keep families and staff informed as we receive more information from PowerSchool and NC DPI.
Thank you for your patience as we and our school district colleagues across the world work through this situation.
WS/FCS