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U.S. Department of Education Website Down After Hackers Detected

By Michele McNeil — April 03, 2013 1 min read
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If you’re a federal education policy junkie, or you need important information such as guidance on implementing your No Child Left Behind Act waiver, then you’ve been out of luck this week.

Key parts of the U.S. Department of Education’s website have been down after federal officials detected “suspicious activity” on Friday and moved to “protect the integrity of the site.” Parts of the website that are inaccessible include sections on Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation, waivers, and general policy and guidance letters.

In a statement, Education Department officials say they have no reason to believe any protected information was compromised. This was likely a pre-emptive statement to head off any concerns that department data on students (or say, on student loans, which the department now administers) was illegally obtained.

Education Department spokesman Daren Briscoe could not say when the website would be fully functional again.

Here’s the complete statement:

On March 29th, the Department of Education detected suspicious activity on the ED.gov website and pulled the impacted system offline to protect the integrity of the site. While tests are ongoing out of an abundance of caution, we do not have any reason to believe that protected information was compromised.

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