A man from the United States has been sentenced to four years in jail for admitting to cyber extortion in connection with a widespread data breach of a student information system utilized throughout Canada.
Matthew D. Lane received his sentence in a Massachusetts court on Tuesday following his confession to charges linked to extorting two companies.
While the specific companies were not disclosed in court records, PowerSchool, a software and cloud storage provider for educational systems in the United States and Canada, confirmed on Wednesday that Lane was responsible for the breach.
PowerSchool informed school boards in various regions across North America, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Alberta, that their data system had been breached between December 22 and 28 of the previous year.
The company disclosed in May that it had paid a ransom in an attempt to halt the public exposure of the stolen information.
In July, Canada’s federal privacy watchdog revealed that it had concluded its investigation into the cybersecurity incident, stating its satisfaction with the company’s response and commitment to enhancing security measures.