News & Information > News Releases
For Immediate Release: Contact:
March 1, 2018 Melanie Mowry Etters
Communication Director
850-414-7551
Important Notice to Agency for Persons with Disabilities Customers Regarding Security Breach
No Indication that any Sensitive Information has been Compromised
TALLAHASSEE, FL—On February 14 and 15, several employees of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) were victims of phishing emails. APD immediately began investigating this potential security breach, and it was reported to the APD Inspector General and the Agency for State Technology to begin a thorough review, which is ongoing. To date, there is no indication that any sensitive information has been compromised, including the information of parents or guardians. However, in an abundance of caution we are sending a notification to 55,400 APD customers and providing a one-year membership with a credit monitoring service because client names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers were potentially included in these email accounts.
APD takes this matter very seriously and has taken steps to protect personal information, including taking swift action to help prevent this type of event from happening again. On February 16, APD implemented a previously-scheduled security upgrade requiring a multi-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to APD’s email system. APD will also be enacting additional training for staff members regarding appropriate email security protocols.
At this time, APD has no reason to believe individuals’ information has been misused. Again, in an abundance of caution and to help individuals detect any possible misuse of this information, we are providing a one-year membership with a credit monitoring service for those who could have been affected. This service will be free for APD clients. For more information, individuals may call APD’s hotline at 1-855-476-1180. If you are writing on this event, it is imperative to include APD’s hotline phone number in your reporting.
APD is notifying all potentially affected customers in accordance with state and federal law, including information on credit monitoring services. Pursuant to 45 CFR 164 and Section 501.171, Florida Statutes, this is notification that the Agency for Persons with Disabilities had a security breach, which affected 55,400 individuals in the state of Florida.
APD supports people with developmental disabilities to live, learn, and work in their communities. The agency annually serves more than 50,000 Floridians with severe autism, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome, Phelan-McDermid syndrome, and Prader-Willi syndrome. For more information about the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, visit APDcares.org or call toll-free 1-866-APD-CARES (1-866-273-2273).
###
