Thirty-five thousand NWT students, staff victimized by PowerSchool data breach

Data from Dettah, Ndilǫ district education authorities now also known to be affected in the worldwide incident


The K'àlemì Dene School in Ndilǫ. (Photo courtesy of Taylor Architecture Group)

The PowerSchool data breach discovered two weeks ago has now been confirmed to impact approximately 35,000 individuals, including 33,000 current and historical students and 2,350 current and former educators/staff from the Northwest Territories.

PowerSchool is an information management system that has been used within the NWT since 2012.

The GNWT stated in a release Tuesday that the breach impacted the Beaufort Delta Division Education Council, Dehcho Divisional Education Council, South Slave Divisional Education Council, Yellowknife Catholic Schools, and Yellowknife Education District.

An investigation subsequently revealed student and staff data from the Dettah District Education Authority and the Ndilǫ District Education Authority were also affected.

Impacted individuals will be notified by PowerSchool directly. The GNWT also has a resource page.

PowerSchool has also committed to offering two years of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services for all affected students and educators.

The Kindergarten to Grade 12 school software provider on January 15th notified the GNWT that unauthorized access to PowerSchool’s data cloud led to the theft of records from several education bodies in Canada, the United States, and other parts of the world.

About the Author

James O'Connor
James O’Connor joined CKLB 101.9 FM at the start of 2024, after working as a journalist, photo editor and managing editor at newspapers in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. James also has experience in politics, arts, service clubs and the NWT’s non-profit sector. At this point in his lengthy career, James is thrilled to be working at such a unique media outlet and always welcomes notes from listeners at: james.oconnor@cklbradio.com.