Cybercriminals are attempting to extort education workers after a hack left their sensitive personal data at risk.

Early this year, an investigation from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike determined that PowerSchool – which operates a widely-used Student Information System (SIS) – witnessed a data breach affecting millions of US school kids.

PowerSchool’s SIS software helps schools track students’ attendance, grades, addresses and oftentimes very specific personal information like Social Security numbers or health history.

PowerSchool disclosed that “current and former students and educators” had their names, contact details, dates of birth, limited medical alert information, Social Security numbers and “other related information” compromised.

Months later, state school leaders and employees from at least 20 North Carolina school systems have reported that hackers have attempted to extort them via threatening emails.

The NBC-affiliated WRAL News reports that the extortion attempt asks for a payment in cryptocurrency in exchange for keeping the victims’ data secret.

While PowerSchool says that the threat has been contained, cybersecurity expert Doug Levin said to “take that with a grain of salt.”

Says Levin,

“We also always encourage literally everyone, whether you’ve been caught up in this incident or not, to just freeze their credit records at the credit reporting agencies… It is a simple step that you can take to provide some measure of protection against financial fraud against yourself, should your information ever get exposed in a data breach like this one…

Incidents have been happening more frequently. They’ve been more sophisticated. They have also been more significant in terms of their impact, whether you’re talking about money or amounts, or the sensitivity of data that has been released.

And one of the things that school systems are doing now is also looking and asking questions of all of their vendors and third parties they do business with, like PowerSchool. There is certainly a trend right now that school systems are beginning to ask many more questions of their vendors and partners to ensure that they have strong cybersecurity in place, while school systems as well are shoring up their cybersecurity practices.”

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According to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, Lomond School has announced the launch of its Bitcoin Scholarship with a bold new step blend education and Bitcoin innovation. The presentation is in parallel with a strategic partnership with renowned economist Dr. Saifeden to develop an Austrian economics curriculum for students.

The independent co-educational day and boarding school already known in the world that accepted Bitcoin for tuition fees offers 21 two-year boarding scholarships and 21 two-year scholarships. Each scholarship is designed to empower students regardless of background, with a passion for economics, innovation and critical thinking.

Appearing in Jordan Walkers, Cleachschorm, principal of Lomond School, said: Bitcoin Collective Podcast. “The scholarship program seemed like a natural next step. With Dr. Amas supporting our curriculum and the introduction of the scholarship program, I will be able to join dedicated supporters as benefactors and shape the next generation of economic thinkers.”

Beyond scholarships, the school is also launching a new economics curriculum in collaboration with Dr. Amas, best known as the author of Bitcoin Standard. This initiative highlights Austrian economics, sound money and the ethics of financial freedom.

“The future of freedom and prosperity depends on the sound economics of understanding for the next generation,” Dr. Amas said. “With this partnership, we aim to plant seeds of long-term thinking and financial literacy early in our lives. We are delighted to be able to work with Lomond School on this incredibly exciting project.”

The curriculum complements Lomond’s already progressive learning model and features practical Bitcoin integration. Students can explore decentralized financial principles, interact with Bitcoin mining hardware donated to schools, and actually understand the monetary system beyond traditional classrooms.

Lomond School said it is actively seeking 43 founding benefactors. One person on each scholarship and flagship sponsor package. Chisholm said: “Become one of 43 people and shape the future – education meets innovation and Austrian economics is rooted in the classroom. Help us change the world from Helensborough.” Interested people can learn more or express their interest by contacting us (Email protection).

Owners of Ledger hardware wallets have reported receiving fake physical letters designed to trick them into revealing their wallet seed phrases as part of a new wave of crypto scams.

On April 29, tech analyst Jacob Canfield posted a warning on X, sharing a scam letter that had arrived at his home.

Disguised as official correspondence from Ledger, the letter instructed him to perform a “critical security update” by scanning a QR code and entering his 24-word recovery phrase.

Ledger Scam Letter Mimics Official Mail With Logo and Reference Number

The professionally designed letter included Ledger’s logo, a return address, and a reference number to lend credibility.

It warned that failure to complete the “validation” could result in restricted access to the user’s funds—an intimidation tactic meant to spur action.

Ledger responded directly to Canfield’s post, confirming the letter was fraudulent and part of a phishing attempt.

“Ledger will never ask for your 24-word recovery phrase,” the company reiterated, advising users not to trust unsolicited messages or individuals claiming to be Ledger representatives.

Seed phrases, often 12 to 24 words long, are the most sensitive component of a crypto wallet. Anyone who gains access to them can take full control of a user’s assets.

Some community members suspect the scam stems from Ledger’s infamous 2020 data breach, when the personal information of over 270,000 customers—including names, emails, and home addresses—was leaked online.

That incident was followed by numerous phishing campaigns, including one in which tampered Ledger devices were mailed to victims to install malware.

The recent mail scam appears to be another tactic targeting those affected by the breach, showing how long the consequences of data leaks can linger in the crypto world.

Phishing Scam Targets Coinbase, Gemini Users

In March, several crypto users flagged sophisticated phishing scam emails, which targeted Coinbase and Gemini users with legit-looking fraudulent emails.

The mass email reportedly arrived in various user inboxes on Saturday. The scam mail pointed to a class action lawsuit against Coinbase for allegedly involving in unregistered securities, adding that the court has mandated users to convert their assets into self-custody wallets.

Further, the mail also stressed that the deadline to transfer user assets to a self-custodial wallet is April 1st, 2025.

As reported, in the first three months of 2025, the crypto ecosystem lost a whopping $1,635,933,800 across 39 incidents, according to the blockchain security platform Immunefi.

The report claimed, “Q1 2025 marks the worst quarter for hacks in the history of the crypto ecosystem.”

Most of that was the result of only two hacks of two centralized exchanges. Phemex suffered a $69.1 million loss in January, while Bybit lost $1.46 billion in February.

Subsequently, the total number of losses in the first quarter marks a 4.7x increase compared to Q1 2024. At that time, hackers and fraudsters stole $348,251,217.

Notably, experts assume that the infamous North Korean Lazarus Group is behind the two largest attacks. They stole $1.52 billion, which is 94% of total losses.

The post Crypto Scammers Go Old School: Ledger Users Hit with New Seed Phrase Mail Scam appeared first on Cryptonews.