A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to four years in prison for hacking into education software provider PowerSchool and stealing sensitive data from of students and teachers.
Matthew Lane, 20, pleaded guilty in June to charges including cyber extortion and aggravated identity theft.
The December 2024 breach exposed personal information of over 60 students and 10 million teachers across the U.S. and Canada.
Lane used stolen credentials to access PowerSchool’s network and demanded a $2.85 million Bitcoin ransom, threatening to leak the data if unpaid.
PowerSchool paid the ransom to prevent the data’s release.
In addition to his prison term, Lane was ordered to pay over $14 million in restitution and a $25,000 fine.
Locally, the Peace River School Division, the Holy Family Catholic Regional Division, the Northland School Division and the Fort Vermilion School Division, uses Powerschool.
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