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WINTON – A cybersecurity incident that impacted public schools statewide has apparently been contained, but local school officials are still awaiting additional information regarding its overall impact.

Officials with Hertford County Public Schools (HCPS) say they were alerted on Tuesday of this week by North Carolina Public Schools and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) regarding the incident, which impacted student and teacher data.

The alert, which was not isolated only to North Carolina, came from PowerSchool, a student information system that has been in use in the state since 2013.

“A thorough investigation is underway to determine the extent of the incident,” said Tonya Freeman, the HCPS Chief Information Officer. “Once the investigation is complete, DPI will notify HCPS if staff, students, and families whose information may have been compromised. While an exact timetable is not yet available, updates will be shared as soon as new information is confirmed.”

Bertie County Public School officials are also aware of the incident.

“The district is working closely with PowerSchool and DPI monitoring systems to see if there has been an actual data breach affecting our students and teachers here. If we find that the data has been compromised, we will notify stakeholders accordingly,” stated Janice Ricks, Public Information Officer for Bertie Schools.

According to HCPS, PowerSchool became aware on Dec. 28, 2024 of a cybersecurity incident that began on Dec. 19. The data breach occurred when the credentials of a PowerSchool contract employee were compromised.

PowerSchool has shared that the threat has been contained and that the compromised data was not shared and destroyed. PowerSchool is working with law enforcement to monitor the dark web for any data exposure.

“It is important to stress that there is nothing that Hertford County Public Schools or NCDPI could have done to avoid this cybersecurity incident. Neither our schools nor DPI have access to the maintenance tunnel where the breach occurred,” HCPS officials said in a statement.

HCPS officials say that NCDPI is committed to protecting students and staff and “they are actively advocating for each of them as we navigate this situation with PowerSchool.”

With the assistance of PowerSchool, more information and resources (including credit monitoring or identity protection services if applicable) will be provided as it becomes available.

HCPS officials say they will work alongside NCDPI and PowerSchool to ensure all required notifications are received.

“To consolidate communication and ensure everyone is kept up to date, we have developed a page on our website that will allow you to subscribe for updates and will contain all of our communications and other information that is shared,” HCPS officials said.

That page can be accessed at https://www.hertford.k12.nc.us/Page/3186

Those with questions or concerns regarding this matter can submit them using either the PowerSchool Cybersecurity Incident Questions and Concerns Form or directly to Thomas Grimes at tgrimes@hertford.k12.nc.us with the subject line “PowerSchool Incident”.