Southern School District impacted by cyber breach

BEATRICE - Southern School District of Wymore has notified parents by letter of a recent cybersecurity incident involving a software vendor. PowerSchool provides Southern’s Student Information System.
In the letter, Superintendent Dr. Chris Prososki says PowerSchool reported to the district's leadership team that on Tuesday, January 7th, the firm experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain PowerSchool SIS customer data.
PowerSchool confirmed that some of the information belongs to Southern School District’s families and educators.
The data accessed primarily included parent and student contact information, including names and address information. PowerSchool noted that within its customer base for a portion of individuals, some Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as medical information, was impacted.
The company has informed the district they are working to complete their investigation and determine whether any personally identifiable information belonging to Southern students was included. More than half of the school districts across Nebraska use PowerSchool as their student information system.
Prososki said about two years ago, Southern updated enrollment forms, removing all Social Security numbers for both students and staff members in PowerSchool. Prososki said parents can be assured their child’s Social Security number was not compromised in the security breach.
The Superintendent said protecting the district's students is something Southern takes seriously.