# Florida Department of Education confirms hackers accessed its financial aid website, exposing Social Security numbers · pwn.watch > The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) said on Oct 29 2026 that it became aware on Oct 19 of "unauthorized criminal access to the financial aid website". Personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, was potentially exposed. FLDOE says it stopped the activity, contained the incident and secured its systems, notified the office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, and is working with the Florida Digital Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It says financial aid disbursements, tuition payments and eligibility for scholarships, grants and student loans are not affected. FLDOE hasn't said how many people are affected or who was behind the attack. Page: https://pwn.watch/i/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-breach-oct-2026 · generated 2026-10-29T20:46:10.933Z ## Status - Severity: high · status: live · patch: partial - Product: Florida Department of Education financial aid website - Started: 2026-10-19 ## Follow this incident - RSS (one item per update): https://pwn.watch/i/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-breach-oct-2026/feed.xml - JSON Feed: https://pwn.watch/i/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-breach-oct-2026/feed.json - Full data (timeline, sources, posts, agentBrief): https://pwn.watch/i/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-breach-oct-2026.json - This file: https://pwn.watch/i/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-breach-oct-2026/llms.txt ## Updates (newest first) - 2026-10-29: FLDOE publicly confirms the breach, saying personally identifiable information including Social Security numbers was potentially exposed. It has notified the Florida Attorney General and is working with the Florida Digital Service and FDLE; financial aid payments and eligibility are not affected. (https://x.com/EducationFL/status/2115821380356763776) - 2026-10-19: FLDOE staff become aware of unauthorized criminal access to the department's financial aid website and activate its cybersecurity response protocols to stop the activity and contain the incident. (https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-website-data-breach-october-2026/) ## Fix brief # Security brief: Florida Department of Education confirms hackers accessed its financial aid website, exposing Social Security numbers Source: https://pwn.watch/i/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-breach-oct-2026 · status: live · severity: high · updated Oct 29, 2026, 15:13 UTC ## Patch status **PARTIALLY PATCHED: some fixes exist, but not every affected branch/product is covered. Check carefully and apply mitigations where no fix exists.** ## What it is The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) said on Oct 29 2026 that it became aware on Oct 19 of "unauthorized criminal access to the financial aid website". Personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, was potentially exposed. FLDOE says it stopped the activity, contained the incident and secured its systems, notified the office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, and is working with the Florida Digital Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It says financial aid disbursements, tuition payments and eligibility for scholarships, grants and student loans are not affected. FLDOE hasn't said how many people are affected or who was behind the attack. Severity detail: Confirmed unauthorized access to a US state agency's financial aid site with Social Security numbers potentially exposed; number of affected people not disclosed - Product: Florida Department of Education financial aid website ## Affected versions - Not specified in the data. Check the advisories below. ## Check whether you're affected No generic command applies (the product is a hosted service, appliance or desktop app). Check the installed version in its admin UI / About screen and compare with the versions above. ## Fix No fixed version is listed. Follow the vendor advisory below. ## Mitigations The data marks this as partial. Until every affected component is fixed, apply the vendor mitigations from the advisories below (restrict network exposure of the affected service, disable the vulnerable feature if the advisory allows). ## Specific notes Nothing to patch. If you applied for Florida state financial aid, watch for a notification letter from FLDOE, consider freezing your credit with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and be wary of phishing calls, texts or emails that mention financial aid, scholarships or your Social Security number. ## Latest updates - Oct 29, 2026: FLDOE publicly confirms the breach, saying personally identifiable information including Social Security numbers was potentially exposed. It has notified the Florida Attorney General and is working with the Florida Digital Service and FDLE; financial aid payments and eligibility are not affected. - Oct 19, 2026: FLDOE staff become aware of unauthorized criminal access to the department's financial aid website and activate its cybersecurity response protocols to stop the activity and contain the incident. ## Advisories - [Florida Department of Education statement on the data breach incident](https://x.com/EducationFL/status/2115821380356763776) (Florida Department of Education) ## Write-ups & news - [Hackers gain access to Florida Department of Education financial aid website, officials confirm](https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-website-data-breach-october-2026/) --- Machine-readable: https://pwn.watch/i/florida-department-of-education-financial-aid-breach-oct-2026.json · all incidents: https://pwn.watch/incidents.json. Verify against the vendor advisory before changing production systems.