Scholastic 2025 Data Breach
ObscureIQ Breach Intelligence
Low SeverityWebsite / service breach
Scholastic Educational Publisher Breach (2025): 4.2 Million Customer Records Including Home Address & Phone Exposed
Publishing and education company.
Verified by ObscureIQ Intelligence
30/100Breach Risk Index
8Data Value
25Market Recency
469dSince Breach
Breach Intelligence Summary
Entity: Scholastic · Actor: Unknown · Sources: 2 references
Attack: Unknown
Profile: Company · Educational publishing and services · Books and learning materials provider · Global
Timeline: Breach (2025-01-08) · Indexed (Jan 13, 2025) · Year (2025)
Exposure: 4.2M records · 4 fields: Email Address, Full Name, Phone Number, Physical Address
Status: Confirmed
Executive Summary
Scholastic Corporation, the children's book publisher known for school book fairs and classroom programs, suffered a breach in January 2025 when a hacker identified as "Parasocial" accessed the company's employee portal using credentials stolen via malware. The attacker exfiltrated data linked to approximately 8 million individuals, with 4.2 million unique email addresses confirmed in the breach. Parasocial stated publicly that they had no intention of releasing the data, framing the intrusion as a security demonstration rather than a financially motivated attack. Scholastic confirmed it was investigating the incident. The exposed records included names, email addresses, phone numbers, and physical home addresses belonging to customers and education professionals. Many of the affected accounts belong to parents and teachers, some of whom included school affiliations in their profiles. While no passwords or financial data were included in the exposed fields, the combination of home addresses and school-linked relationships creates a meaningful risk for families. Affected individuals could be targeted through phishing attacks designed to impersonate trusted education channels, or face physical risks tied to the exposure of their home location. No public regulatory action or formal legal proceedings had been announced at the time of this summary. Scholastic's customer base skews heavily toward parents of school-age children and educators, which gives this breach an elevated risk profile even without financial data present. People whose information was exposed should be alert to unsolicited contact that references Scholastic, their child's school, or book fair activity, as these details could be used to craft convincing and targeted scams.
ObscureIQ assessment: High sensitivity because school and child-related relationships may be exposed. Risks include phishing, fraud, and targeting of families, educators, or schools through trusted education channels.
Breach Impact
In January 2025 a hacker identifying themselves as "Parasocial" accessed Scholastic's employee portal using credentials stolen via malware and exfiltrated data linked to approximately 8 million individuals, of which 4.2 million unique email addresses were confirmed in the breach corpus. The exposed records included names, phone numbers, and physical addresses for customers and education professionals — including teachers listing their school affiliations. Parasocial stated publicly they had no intention of releasing the data, framing the intrusion as a security wake-up call rather than a financially motivated attack. Scholastic confirmed it was investigating the incident. Because Scholastic's customer base includes parents and educators with children's school information embedded in account records, the breach drew particular attention despite the absence of passwords or financial data in the exposed fields.
About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation is an American publishing and education company best known for its book fairs, book clubs, and children's publishing programs operating in schools across the United States and internationally. The company publishes and distributes books for children and educators, runs classroom book clubs, and organizes the widely recognized school book fair program. Scholastic also publishes popular series and has media licensing operations. It is publicly traded on Nasdaq and headquartered in New York.
Why They Hold Your Data
Educational publishers collect student, parent, teacher, school, and order-related identity and contact data across books, subscriptions, classroom programs, and school-commerce workflows.
Recent Developments
Scholastic has continued operating its core school-facing publishing and distribution business. The company has navigated changes in educational publishing and school procurement. No major organizational developments beyond the breach have been prominently reported in the most recent period.
Data Points Exposed
4 verified field types
Email Address
Full Name High
Phone Number
Physical Address High
Field names are shown in full for clarity and search visibility. Canonical machine keys are emitted only in this page’s structured data.
Exploitation & Downstream Threats
Threat Activity:High
Primary downstream threats:
- SIM swap attacks where phone numbers are present
- Targeted phishing campaigns using exposed email addresses
- Doxxing risk from physical address exposure
Threat vectors:
- Phishing, credential stuffing & account takeover
- Name-based social engineering
- SIM swapping, vishing & SMS phishing
- Physical stalking, mail fraud & identity verification
Recommended Actions
If you believe your information may be included:
Enable MFA Everywhere
Turn on multi-factor authentication on email first, then financial accounts.
Report & Recover
If you spot misuse, start an official recovery plan and report fraud.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in the Scholastic breach?▾
Scholastic Corporation, the children's book publisher known for school book fairs and classroom programs, suffered a breach in January 2025 when a hacker identified as "Parasocial" accessed the company's employee portal using credentials stolen via malware. The attacker exfiltrated data linked to…
What data was exposed?▾
Verified fields include Email Address, Full Name, Phone Number, Physical Address.
What should I do if I was affected?▾
Change reused passwords, enable MFA, and (if identity or financial data is involved) freeze your credit and monitor your accounts.
Sources & References
Every claim on this page is traceable. This breach draws on:
Breach Index
ObscureIQ Intelligence
ObscureIQ proprietary analysis
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