Ben Levin

ALT Screenshot (1 of 2) of tweet by Missouri Governor Mike Parson (@GovParsonMO) that says: “Through a multi-step process, an individual took the records of at least three educators, decoded the HTML source code, and viewed the SSN of those specific educators. We notified the Cole County prosecutor and the Highway Patrol’s Digital Forensic Unit will investigate.”

ALT Screenshot (2 of 2) of tweet thread (continued) by Missouri Governor Mike Parson (@GovParsonMO). The first tweet says: “Upon receiving this notice, DESE immediately contacted the Missouri Office of Administration ITSD, who programs and maintains the web application, to remove public access to the portal and update the code.” The second tweet says: “This matter is serious. The state is committing to bring to justice anyone who hacked our system and anyone who aided or encouraged them to do so — in accordance with what Missouri law allows AND requires.” The third tweet says: “A hacker is someone who gains unauthorized access to information or content. This individual did not have permission to do what they did. They had no authorization to convert and decode the code.”