January 13, 2025

Dear Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) community, 

We are writing to provide a brief update about the cybersecurity incident that PowerSchool, our student information system provider, recently experienced.

PowerSchool’s investigation is ongoing and we await additional details from PowerSchool about the information accessed as a result of the incident. We share your concerns about this incident that is impacting educational institutions across North America. We also understand that you may be looking for additional details as well. Rest assured that when we have details to share, we are committed to sharing them.

There have been no operational impacts on LRSD as a result of this incident. PowerSchool has assured us that the incident has been contained.

In LRSD, we take cybersecurity and protecting information seriously. We will post updates about the PowerSchool cybersecurity incident on our website and social media accounts. We have provided below and on our website some answers to questions you may have. If you have any additional questions, they can be directed to our inquiry form.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we navigate this situation.

Regards,

Christian Michalik
Superintendent & CEO

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Incident

What happened?

On January 7, 2025, PowerSchool informed LRSD that it had experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain customer information in late December 2024. LRSD is a customer of PowerSchool, like many other educational institutions across North America. PowerSchool provides a Student Information System (SIS).

PowerSchool also informed us that the unauthorized access included access to information related to LRSD. We await additional details from PowerSchool about the information affected and are committing to sharing details when we have them.

We have been informed that PowerSchool has contained the incident and that there is no evidence of malware or continued unauthorized activity in the PowerSchool environment. There have been no operational impacts on LRSD as a result of this incident.

Who did this and for what purpose?

This incident occurred at PowerSchool. We await additional details about the incident from PowerSchool. Unfortunately, organizations across the public and private sectors are increasingly being impacted by incidents like this. 

How did you respond to the incident?

Upon becoming aware of the cybersecurity incident, LRSD has been working diligently to investigate and to learn additional details from PowerSchool. We await additional details from PowerSchool about the information accessed as a result of this incident so we can take further action.

PowerSchool has informed us that it has taken various response actions, including containing the incident, informing law enforcement, investigating the incident, conducting a full internal password reset, and tightening password security for all of its internal accounts.

How long will the investigation take?

PowerSchool has advised it intends to provide additional details shortly. Once we have additional details from PowerSchool, we will seek to complete our investigation as quickly as possible.

Has the incident been resolved?

We have been informed that PowerSchool has contained the incident and that there is no evidence of malware or continued unauthorized activity in the PowerSchool environment. There have been no operational impacts on LRSD as a result of this incident.

The Response

Has law enforcement been notified?

Yes, PowerSchool has advised us that it has notified law enforcement.

Has the Manitoba Ombudsman been advised?

Yes, the Manitoba Ombudsman has been advised.

The Impact

Why did this happen to LRSD?

PowerSchool is a vendor used by many educational institutions in North America. We are a customer of PowerSchool and, as a result of the incident experienced by PowerSchool, we were impacted. We have no reason to believe that LRSD was a specific target in this incident.

The Data

Has information been accessed? Was information from LRSD exposed?

PowerSchool confirmed that there was unauthorized access to certain PowerSchool customer data, including data related to LRSD. PowerSchool’s investigation is ongoing and we await additional details from PowerSchool about the information accessed as a result of the incident. We understand that you may be looking for additional details as well. Rest assured that when we have details to share, we are committed to sharing them.

January 8, 2025

Dear Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) community, 

We are writing to inform you that on January 7, 2025, LRSD was notified by our student information system (SIS) provider, PowerSchool, that a cybersecurity event had occurred in late December and that some of our PowerSchool data was accessed.

PowerSchool, not LRSD, was the target of the cybersecurity event. PowerSchool customers across Canada and the United States have been impacted, including LRSD. 

To this point, PowerSchool has worked with cybersecurity experts to resolve the situation. PowerSchool has provided us with assurances that the accessed data has now been deleted. Furthermore, PowerSchool has confidence that the data was not copied or uploaded elsewhere. PowerSchool is actively engaged with cybersecurity professionals to continue to monitor this event.

LRSD has taken the necessary preliminary steps to respond to this situation, which includes involving the appropriate professionals. No other school division systems or data was accessed or compromised.

We are currently investigating the impact of this cybersecurity event in LRSD. At this time, we believe that the data accessed included some specific personal information of students and the name and email address of LRSD staff who are PowerSchool users. 

Please be assured that the safety and security of our data—particularly the information of your children and of our staff is of paramount importance to us and to PowerSchool. We regret that this has occurred, and we will continue to collaborate on this matter.

It is our commitment to you to continue to communicate. As information becomes available, we will be updating on this page. If you have any questions, please direct them to communications@lrsd.net.

Regards,

Ron Cadez

Acting Superintendent while Christian Michalik is away from the office