Dear Port Jervis families and staff,
On January 7, PowerSchool notified our technology department that Port Jervis City School District was one of thousands of PowerSchool’s clients whose data may have been accessed during a cybersecurity incident.
According to PowerSchool, someone used a compromised credential to access data stored in their Student Information System (SIS). When PowerSchool became aware of the incident, they notified law enforcement, locked down the system, and engaged the services of CyberSteward, a professional advisor with experience in negotiating with threat actors. PowerSchool states that they have received “reasonable assurances from the threat actor that the data has been deleted and that no additional copies exist.” I would imagine they paid a hefty fee to make this happen. Usually, hackers aren't interested in people's non-financial information but rather the ransom payment.
Information accessed may include students' names and addresses, phone numbers, and some basic health information. For staff, the information that may have been accessed were staff names and school email addresses. Once PowerSchool shares specifically what information, if any, from PJCSD may have been accessed, we will work with them to ensure appropriate next steps are taken.
PowerSchool has advised us that the incident has been contained and they are not experiencing any disruption to services provided. We are sorry that this happened and anticipate PowerSchool will be providing us with additional information as they learn more. If you have any questions, you can reach out to our IT department at support@pjschools.org
Sincerely,
John J. Bell, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools