Before its staggering data breach that exposed private data of over 62 million kids, few people outside of education knew what PowerSchool was. But this software, which manages student data, became the subject of many news articles since the beginning of the year—depending on the school district, the data stolen included sensitive personal information like names, addresses, birth dates, and social security numbers.
The hacker behind the attack may now be caught, but the Massachusetts college student’s guilty plea in a court of law doesn’t neutralize the risk of the data having leaked. Affected students and staff should still take advantage of PowerSchool providing two years of credit monitoring and identity protection. However, the enrollment period ends this month, which means you only have a couple of weeks left if you haven’t already signed up—and due to time zones, it’s possible you could miss the window if you’re not careful.
For both U.S. and Canadian residents impacted by the leak, you have until July 31, 2025 at 5:59 UTC to sign up with your activation code. That works out to July 30, 2025 at 10:59pm PT or July 31, 2025 1:59am ET.
To enroll, follow the instructions on PowerSchool’s webpage dedicated to details about the breach.
While the stolen PowerSchool data has not yet surfaced elsewhere, there’s no guarantee it hasn’t already spread privately—or later spread publicly. So this leak still poses a possible threat—one with potential long-term consequences for minor children. Most people don’t expect kids to be the targets of identity theft, and so don’t check credit reports periodically. Scammers can end up trashing their credit scores, which can then affect the ability to open bank accounts, credit cards, secure an apartment, or get a job when the children reach adulthood.
So besides credit monitoring, you can take three stronger, more secure steps like freezing your kids’ credit, bank reports, and requesting an IRS identity PIN to safeguard their financial reputations. I actually recommend these moves as smart proactive actions to all the parents I know—given the increasing frequency and scope of data breaches, their kids will be at risk someday, if not already.
