A local privacy consultant says government has the ultimate responsibility when it comes to the stewardship of personal information, regardless whether or not that information has been breached through a third-party vendor.
PowerSchool, an app used in the provincial K-12 system to manage grades, assignments and fees, recently revealed that it was hacked over the Christmas holiday break, affecting data on students and families across North America dating back to the mid-90s.
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Dave Morgan of Dave Morgan Privacy Consulting says just because PowerSchool’s app was breached doesn’t mean the province is off the hook.
“They’re still accountable for information,” says Morgan, “even if they’re using a vendor to provide to families and to students.” He says “what a lot of people don’t realize is that you can’t contract your way out of your responsibility as an organization that has data.” As a result says Morgan, NLSchools still has to ensure that the vendors it uses are going to handle the information safely, and that it’s not used inappropriately.
