Florida state agency data breach could affect nearly 5 million people

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Department of Education announced that criminals accessed internal information through a data breach.

According to the FLDOE, the breach was “involving unauthorized criminal access” to the department’s secure information.

Officials said that after identifying the threat on Oct. 19, the department “immediately activated its cybersecurity response protocols.”

The department said those protocols enabled them to take “swift, decisive action to stop the unauthorized activity, contain the incident, and secure its systems.”

According to officials, the breach involved unauthorized access to FLDOE’s Financial Aid website and, according to the department, the compromised data was personal identifiable information that includes social security numbers.

As many as 4.9 million people could be affected, according to FLDOE, but any financial aid is not at risk.

According to FLDOE, the department “remains committed to transparency and will provide additional information as verified details become available.”

The department said in addition to providing notice of the breach to the Office of the Attorney General, FLDOE is also partnering with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Digital Service in investigating the incident.

For more information, visit FLDOE’s official statement and FAQ page .