2026 Florida Department of Education — Florida Student Financial Aid site breach; Social Security numbers for about 4.9 million people
Data compromised
Names, addresses, phone numbers, gender, email addresses, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The count is from The Record: its headline gives 4.9 million and its text says nearly 5 million. The state's own count was not quoted in the coverage reviewed.
Technical writeup
The incident was first detected on October 19, 2026, according to the reporting. The state describes the incident as "contained." The department has not said whether the intrusion is fully ended or whether the data has appeared online.
Root cause
The department says an unauthorised party gained access to a system or database holding customer information. The site was taken down and other department services may face temporary disruption. The method and the attacker have not been described. The department reported the incident to the state Attorney General and is working with the Florida Digital Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.