A Massachusetts student has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of hacking and extortion at one of the largest education technology companies in the United States, prosecutors confirmed Tuesday.
Matthew D. Lane, 19, has been accused of using stolen login credentials to access a network of unknown software companies that serve schools in North America and elsewhere, stealing the identity of more than 60 million students and 10 million teachers.
Stolen personal information included name, address, phone number, social security number, medical information and school grades. In some cases, hackers stole decades of historic student data.
The company has not been appointed, but federal prosecutors have explained certain details that match the data breaches of education software maker Powerschool. This revealed that it could be traced back to August and September 2024 in January.
Prosecutors say Lane worked with an unknown co-conspirator who lived in Illinois to force the educational software maker for about $2.85 million in cryptocurrency, according to criminal charges.
PowerSchool confirmed in January that TechCrunch had paid the hackers to delete the stolen data, but refused to say how much they paid. Earlier this month, several school districts said they faced fearful attempts from people who said stolen student data had not been destroyed. Powerschool said that the attempt by Fear Tor has nothing to do with the new incident, as “samples of data match data previously stolen in December.”
NBC News first reported on Lane’s judicial agreement.
PowerSchool spokesman Beth Keebler said the company is aware of the filing and postponed comments to the Massachusetts Attorney’s Office, which rejected the victim’s name, following an email from an unnamed spokesman to TechCrunch.
When asked, Keebler did not object to the ransom amount, as the prosecutor pointed out.
Lane is also accused of hacking and coercing another company that prosecutors said was a US telecom provider. The prosecutor did not name the company in the judicial agreement.
Lane’s attorney Sean Smith declined to respond to a request for comment.
Updated with a response from the Massachusetts Lawyer’s Office.