Executive Summary
- Third-party forensics confirmed START college savings accounts were not compromised.
- Systems were taken offline for containment but have been securely restored.
- LOSFA coordinated with institutions to honor payments delayed by the outage.
- State police and homeland security officials are assisting in the ongoing investigation.
The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA) has confirmed that its START college savings accounts were not compromised during a recent cyber incident that disrupted agency operations. According to a letter released on November 25 by Interim Executive Director Susannah Fowler Craig, Ph.D., a third-party forensic analysis determined that data within the START, START K-12, and START ABLE programs remained secure throughout the event.
Following the detection of the security breach, officials initiated containment protocols which involved taking systems associated with the 529 college savings programs offline. Dr. Craig stated that these systems remained inactive until forensic experts could verify they were not involved in the incident. The agency has since restored key systems, noting they are back online and are currently being monitored for suspicious activity.
To mitigate the impact of the disruption, LOSFA contacted educational institutions across Louisiana and the nation, requesting they honor pending payments that were delayed due to the system outage. Officials confirmed that all outstanding deposits have now been processed and should properly reflect in user accounts. While the agency has acknowledged the operational disruption, officials have not yet publicly characterized the event as a hack.
Operational Security Overview
The confirmation that financial data within the START program was preserved highlights the critical importance of network compartmentalization in government infrastructure. While the broader agency suffered operational disruptions necessitating a system-wide freeze, the isolation of specific financial databases appears to have prevented a direct compromise of user assets. As the investigation—assisted by the Louisiana State Police and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness—continues, the focus will likely shift to identifying the specific entry vector of the breach to reinforce defensive protocols against future interruptions.
