Florida student financial aid breach may expose 4.9 million people’s Social Security numbers
Florida says a student financial aid website breach may affect 4.9 million people. Past applicants should check the official notice, review financial accounts and credit reports, and consider a credit freeze or fraud alert.
If you previously applied for financial aid in Florida, check the department’s official breach notice and review your financial accounts and credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com. Consider a credit freeze or fraud alert with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Send questions about whether your details were affected to [email protected].
What’s happening
Florida’s Department of Education says criminals accessed its student financial aid website, potentially affecting approximately 4.9 million people. Staff discovered the breach on 19 October and the department announced it on 29 October. Potentially exposed information includes Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and gender codes. The department has not confirmed that everyone was affected, and the information involved may differ by person. It says the unauthorised activity was stopped and the incident contained, with a criminal investigation continuing. Whether the exposed information has been misused is not known. The department says current financial aid, disbursements, tuition payments and eligibility for scholarships, grants or student loans are unaffected. There is no software update for families to install.
- What
- Breach
- Affects
- Florida Student Financial Aid website
- Fixed in
- Nothing to patch
- Since
- 29 Oct 2026
Timeline
- Made public
The department publicly announced the breach and said it had stopped the unauthorised activity and contained the incident. Its breach notice warned that approximately 4.9 million people could be affected, with Social Security numbers among the information potentially exposed.
- UpdateNothing to patch
Florida Department of Education staff discovered unauthorised criminal access to the Florida Student Financial Aid website. The actual date the intrusion began has not been disclosed.
Sources
- Data BreachFlorida Department of Education
- Florida Department of Education is Aware of a Data Breach Incident Involving Unauthorized Criminal Access to Department InformationFlorida Department of Education · 29 Oct 2026
- Florida education department says data breach may affect 4.9 million peopleDataBreaches.net · 29 Oct 2026
- Florida warns that 4.9 million people had Social Security numbers leaked in financial aid site breachThe Record · 30 Oct 2026