Overview

• Matthew Lane used stolen contractor credentials to infiltrate PowerSchool's network and exfiltrate sensitive data on 60 million students and 10 million teachers.
• Lane demanded $2.85 million in bitcoin from PowerSchool in December 2024 to prevent the release of stolen names, Social Security numbers, medical records, and more.
• PowerSchool paid the ransom but later discovered follow-on extortion attempts targeting individual school districts using the same stolen data.
• Lane is also accused of extorting a $200,000 ransom from a telecommunications company prior to the PowerSchool breach.
• Under his plea deal, Lane faces a minimum of two years in prison, with a sentencing hearing yet to be scheduled.