ATLANTA, GA — More than 70 million students and teachers’ data is at risk including those at Buford city schools and Bartow County after PowerSchool, the biggest cloud-based education software provider in the nation, was hacked in December 2024.

The company notified 6,500 school districts, reporting that the hack is believed to have compromised data including names and addresses, social security numbers, and some medical and education information.

In Georgia, the hack appears to have affected more than 230,000 students in Buford City, Bartow County, Dawson County, and Floyd County schools but did not affect larger metro Atlanta school districts.

The Buford City school system was notified it was hacked on January 7. The software platform, PowerSchool, is currently working with Crowdstrike to determine what exact data was stolen in the breach. Buford says it has yet to receive this information, but has been told it will be coming soon. The school system notified parents and its school community that PowerSchool will be offering free identity protection services and complimentary credit monitoring services for all adult students and educators whose information was taken.