MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WHNT) — According to the Alabama governor’s office, a “cybersecurity event” was discovered Friday night.
It stated that the passwords and usernames of some state employees were compromised. The state of Alabama’s Office of Information Technology stated Monday it is working to minimize any potential impacts to state operations.
A release from the governor’s office reminded state employees to look out for malicious emails. Amanda Senn, director of the Alabama Securities Commission, could not speak directly about what happened but offered insight on cybersecurity and data breaches. Senn said there’s a difference between a cyber “event” and a cyber “breach.”
“Maybe a username had accidentally been provided to someone who didn’t have authorized access to that information, or a password may have been shared …,” Senn said. “There could be an incident, but not yet a breach where information has been stolen and been provided.”
In this event, no information is believed to have been stolen or retrieved from any Alabamian, according to the governor’s office. It said it is still working to find out who is responsible for the compromise, and some state websites could be disrupted in that process.
Senn said there’s risk to the public with any compromise.
“There’s always a risk, though, to every organization,” Senn said. “Even individuals at home put themselves at risk for compromising their own personal information just sitting on their computers and cell phones.”
The Alabama Securities Commission is not investigating the event. When investigating other cybercrimes around the state, however, Senn said it encourages people to check their credit scores and bank accounts.
“Change your passwords,” Senn said. “That’s the first thing that we advise any organization to do, large or small, within the organization. So that likewise applies to members of the public as well. Change the passwords you have to access those services within the organization.”
As the investigation continues, updates will be posted here.
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