The Alabama State Department of Education experienced a data breach in June that may have compromised some student and employee data, officials announced Wednesday.
On June 17, information system staff interrupted and stopped an attack on the department’s computer system before hackers could fully access the system or lock it, according to State Superintendent Eric Mackey. He said staff were able to restore all system data with backups, but there is a possibility that some data was compromised.
Officials have launched an ongoing criminal investigation and are working with federal and state law enforcement, the Alabama Attorney General, the Alabama Office of Information Technology and an independent anti-hacking expert to assess the scope of the attack.
Mackey said the department could not specify which data was breached in June, but encourages students and state and local education employees to be on alert. The state department does not collect direct deposit information, but may house Social Security numbers or other identifiable information.
“To all parents and to all local and state education employees out there, they should monitor their credit and they should assume that there’s a possibility that some of their data were compromised,” Mackey said.
