SOUTH CAROLINA () – Aiken County parents received a notice from the Executive Director of Technology Monday night about a cybersecurity issue in the district, state, and across the country.

According to the South Carolina Department of Education, last week there was a data breach. The press release states, “This breach resulted in unauthorized access to certain customer data from PowerSchool’s Student Information Systems (SIS), including data from multiple states and school districts across the country.”

Aiken County sent the following to parents about the recent incident:

Aiken County Parents, Guardians, Teachers, and Staff: 

We are writing to inform you of a recent cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, the software vendor that provides our Student Information System (SIS).  

On January 7, 2025, PowerSchool notified our district of a global cybersecurity incident that involved unauthorized access to their systems. All South Carolina school districts utilize PowerSchool, along with more than 15,000 customers around the world.  

PowerSchool is working diligently to complete their investigation and determine the full scope of the impact across their entire customer base. Our technology team is conducting our own investigation, and there are currently no findings which indicate that any student or staff data within our district’s system was compromised.   

We understand that this news may be concerning, and we want to assure you that we take the protection of data very seriously. While there is currently no indication that any Aiken County student or staff personally identifiable information or other data has been compromised, we are working closely with PowerSchool and SLED to monitor the situation and will provide you with updates and information on this incident, investigation, and relevant resources (such as credit monitoring or identity protection services, if applicable) as they become available.   

Aiken County Public Schools is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of all student data, and we will continue to work with our technology partners to enhance our security measures and protect against future threats.  

Nic Carroll  
Executive Director of Technology