PowerSchool hacker got four years in prison

According to Security Affairs, Matthew D. Lane, a Massachusetts student, was sentenced to four years in prison for hacking and extorting about $3 million from two companies, including PowerSchool. He pleaded guilty in May to hacking two U.S. companies, and the breach involved exfiltrating student and teacher data, with a demanded Bitcoin ransom of $2.85 million to avoid leaking it.

The attacks affected around 70 million individuals, with the hack exposing the personal data of over 60 million students and 9 million teachers, and the breach became public in January. PowerSchool paid a ransom to avoid leaking stolen data and erasing it, but the attackers continued extorting school districts in the US and Canada, with court documents showing Lane returned about $160,000 of the stolen $3 million.

Lane was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $14 million in restitution plus a $25,000 fine.