The Florida Department of Education is investigating a data breach affecting 4.9 million people via its financial aid site.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Florida Department of Education is responding to a data breach that may have impacted 4.9 million people and the Florida Student Financial Aid website.
Thursday, the FLDOE said that it is aware of a data breach that involved unauthorized criminal access to the department’s information.
Education officials said in a press release that after the threat was identified, the department took immediate action by activating its cybersecurity response protocols. FLDOE added that staff took decisive action to stop the unauthorized activity, contain the incident and secure its systems.
This story continues below.
FLDOE said the Office of the Attorney General has been notified, per state law. Additionally, the department is partnering with the Florida Digital Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to address the breach.
“At this time, we believe the incident was limited to the Florida Student Financial Aid website (FloridaStudentFinancialAidSG.org) and may have impacted approximately 4.9 million individuals,” the FLDOE wrote in a statement.
10 Tampa Bay News asked the FLDOE if they knew who was behind the data breach, if the department identified the vulnerability that led to the breach, and for more details regarding the information that was compromised. We have not heard back yet.
This is not the first time a government system in Florida has been breached.
Earlier this year, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said they had learned about a data breach that was “conducted by an international cybercriminal organization.” USF and Hillsborough County Schools were also impacted by a nationwide data breach involving a learning platform.