Matthew Lane: PowerSchool Hacker Sentenced to 4 years After Putting Millions at Risk

A 19-year-old former Assumption University freshman hacker of PowerSchool has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to the cyber attack on Canadian school districts, according to the North Carolina Attorney General.

Matthew D. Lane has been ordered to pay $14 million in restitution after affecting more than 60 million students and 10 million educations according to Mark Keierleber of The 74. Keierleber also said that Lane told a federal judge, “I deserve to be punished,” and is “thankful I got caught.”

Lane was charged with four federal counts of cyber extortion, according to the criminal complaint issued by the Massachusetts Department of Justice.

According to Sean Previl of Global News, the Canadian school districts have confirmed at least 2.77 million current and former student’s information was put at risk, as well as 35,951 staff and 3,500 parents from Novia Scotia.

According to Sean Michael Kerner of the TechTarget Newtwork, the stolen information included names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers, medical information and academic records.

According to Rianna Lim of The Canadian Press, court documents say Lane requested a ransom of $2.85 million worth of bitcoin with a threat of leaking the information gained from the hacking. Lim also said PowerSchool paid a ransom to Lane in an undisclosed amount.