PowerSchool data breach impacting Mass. districts like Wellesley, Needham NECN [Video]

A data breach is impacting school districts across the country, including several here in Massachusetts, and this could mean names, addresses, medical records and even social security numbers were compromised — something local cybersecurity experts say is unsettling.

“It seems like it was caused by a stolen credential from one of their administrative people, and this you know, this shouldn’t be happening,” Frederick Scholl, of Quinnipiac University, said of the PowerSchool nationwide data breach.

Wellesley Public Schools and at least two other districts sent letters to their students’ families this week, informing them about what happened.

Superintendent Dr. David Lussier said the district was notified by PowerSchool, the student information system they utilize, that the nationwide data breach had compromised the personal information of students and teachers from thousands of districts, including Wellesley.

According to Lussier, PowerSchool officials said the information breach was part of a targeted attack where a compromised credential in PowerSchool’s …