Massachusetts college student accused of 2024 PowerSchool data breach gets plea deal

RALEIGH, N.C. (WBTV) - A 19-year-old college student in Massachusetts has been charged with the 2024 PowerSchool data breach that impacted thousands of schools across the North Carolina, according to Attorney General Jeff Jackson.

Jackson said on Wednesday, May 21, that Matthew Lane, 19, had been charged for hacking the PowerSchool system and exposing private information of students, teachers and parents in North Carolina.

Officials said that Lane entered a plea deal with the government on Tuesday, May 20. Lane pleaded guilty to cyber extortion conspiracy, cyber extortion, unauthorized access to protected computers, and aggravated identity theft.

“This hacker compromised the personal data of millions of people in our state and I’m glad to see he is being brought to justice,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “I thank the prosecutors for the U.S. Department of Justice for their work to track this criminal down. My office will continue its investigation into PowerSchool’s role in this event.”

Students and faculty that were affected by the data breach have until July 31 to enroll in free identity protection and credit monitoring by clicking here.

The U.S. Department of Justice of Massachusetts said that Lane allegedly hacked two U.S. based companies and attempted to extort the companies for a ransom.

Officials said that between April 2024 and May 2024 Lane agreed to extort $200,000 ransom payment from a telecommunications company by threatening to publicly disseminate customer data that had previously been stolen from the company’s computer network.

In the PowerSchool data breach Lane allegedly asked for a ransom of $2.85 million in bitcoin.