Personal identifying information about students from around Florida who were eligible for Bright Futures scholarships several years ago – including social security numbers in some cases – has been either stolen or accidentally released, state officials said Wednesday.
The 200,000 records from 2005-2007 were part of an “information security breach” reported by Northwest Florida State College in Niceville.
The Department of Education said Wednesday that the breach also involved more than 3,000 employee records from the school, some of which contained confidential financial records and about 76,000 student records from the college.
Several agencies were investigating and trying to determine the extent of the breach and who may have gotten access to the information. “While some of the contact information is dated, we will be trying to reach every student whose records may have been captured,” said Florida College System Chancellor Randy Hanna.
