Florida’s standardized exams that debuted last week suffered from cyber attacks that led to blank screens throughout the state as students attempted to take the tests, the Department of Education said Monday.
Citing testing provider American Institutes for Research, the state education department said the hack, which is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, “will not compromise student performance on the test or any personal student data.”
Eighth, ninth and tenth graders attempting to take the writing portion of the Florida Standards Assessments were met with blank white screens on Thursday. The education department now says the white screens were part of a denial-of-service attack on a vendor login server. There were “sporadic” reports of similar hacks on Monday and Tuesday.
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said her department will work with law enforcement “to ensure they identify the bad actors and hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
