Alabama student and teacher data possibly breached in cyber attack

TLDR:

• Alabama State Department of Education experienced a data breach in June potentially compromising student and employee data
• Officials are investigating the cyber attack and advising affected individuals to monitor their credit

Full Article:

Alabama State Department of Education recently announced a data breach that occurred in June, potentially exposing student and employee data to hackers. The attack was detected and halted by information system staff before extensive damage could be done, with all system data eventually being restored from backups. However, there is a risk that some data may have been compromised during the incident.
Authorities have initiated a criminal investigation in collaboration with federal and state law enforcement, the Alabama Attorney General, and an independent anti-hacking expert to assess the full extent of the breach. This incident is part of a larger trend of cyber attacks on educational institutions, with over 1,600 known attacks on schools between 2016 and 2022, and multiple attacks on Alabama school districts in recent years.

Alabama State Superintendent, Eric Mackey, has urged students and education employees to be vigilant and monitor their credit for any suspicious activity. Despite the breach, the department has not disclosed the specific data that was compromised, but typically stores Social Security numbers and other identifiable information. While teacher certification processing was affected, all services are now operational following necessary server maintenance.
Mackey emphasized the importance of improving cybersecurity measures within the department, although specific protocols were not disclosed. He also refrained from commenting on any system vulnerabilities that may have been exploited during the attack, citing ongoing federal investigations.

For further updates on the data breach, individuals can visit alabamaachieves.org/databreach or direct any inquiries to databreach@alsde.edu. While the state department’s website may experience temporary downtime for updates, efforts are being made to ensure the security of all data moving forward.