The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Department of Education are calling technical issues plaguing the writing test of the Florida Standards Assessment a result of a cyber attack carried out on the tests servers by an unknown assailant.
Last week thousands of students were unable to complete the writing test while others were unable to log in at all.
The two departments announced they would investigate the errors, with the technical malfunctions initially being blamed on an overloaded server.
But this week the department revealed the problem could be much more far-reaching than simple server issues.
We now know that some of the delays in testing late last week were due to cyber attacks on our testing system operated by American Institutes for Research (AIR), said Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart in a statement released Monday. The department has been working with FDLE since last Thursday when we were notified about the problem and we will continue to provide them with any information possible to ensure they identify the bad actors and hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
The department worked overtime to resolve issues with the assessment test, and many students resumed the test last Tuesday.
According to a statement from the FDOE, significant concerns of a cyber attack did not occur until Thursday morning when the department received widespread reports from districts reporting white screens after logging into the FSA.
AIR later confirmed the malfunctions were a result of a cyber attack on their server. Stewart immediately contacted FDLE and requested the agency to investigate the matter. She also said the department was holding daily conference calls with the testing company to immediately address any flaws on the system.
The commissioner said that although AIR reported cyber attacks, no student data had been compromised.
Mondays news comes after significant criticisms over what many see as a seriously flawed and untested assessment. Last week, legislators called for a complete suspension of the test until the glitches were worked out.
So far its unclear who instigated the cyber attack, but some speculated the assailant could have been a disgruntled opponent of the test.
Florida Education Association President Andy Ford said it would be unfortunate if that turned out to be the case.
If its true, its a horrible way of going about proving you dont like something, if thats what the motivation was, he told Sunshine State News. I just hope it pans out that it wasnt true.
Others said Monday's news would be a good way for the department to avoid taking responsibility for a botched testing roll-out.
"They failed to heed the warnings," said Florida Stop Common Core Coalition President Karen Effrem. "For them to blame the problems on a cyber attack is just far too convenient. It doesnt pass the smell test to me."
