Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey speaks to press about a recent data breach Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in Montgomery, Alabama. Rebecca Griesbach/AL.comThe Alabama State Department of Education experienced a data breach in June that may have compromised some student and employee data, officials announced Wednesday.
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.
Teacher certification processing also slowed down, Mackey said, due to recent work on the department’s servers. But all services are now back up and running.