A 19-year-old man from Worcester County, Massachusetts, has entered a guilty plea for hacking into one of the largest educational technology companies in the United States and stealing the personal information of millions of schoolchildren. The breach, which is suspected to be the largest in American history, occurred last year when the defendant exploited a compromised username and password to gain access to the system. According to the plea agreement, Matthew Lane admitted to the crime and agreed to a prison term of up to nine years and, according to the plea agreement, he admitted to obtaining information from a protected computer and aiding in aggravated identity theft.
The victim of the breach, referred to as ‘Victim-2’ in official documents, is believed to be PowerSchool, a widely used platform in U.S. schools. The court documents also highlighted the defendant’s use of stolen credentials to infiltrate the protected system, underscoring the severity of the breach and the potential for identity theft among the affected children. The case has raised concerns about the security of student data in online educational systems and the broader implications for data protection in the U.S.