Ala. (WBMA) —The Alabama Board of Nursing says it is investigating a cybersecurity incident that involved unauthorized activity within portions of its technology environment and may have resulted in the exposure of sensitive personal and health information
According to the Board, a forensic investigation identified suspicious activity in August 2026 and confirmed malicious activity in portions of its technology environment as of September 1. The Board said it responded by working with the Alabama Office of Information Technology, outside cybersecurity specialists and a third-party incident response team.
The Board said the response efforts contained the incident and prevented the ransomware attack from escalating further. Investigators, however, determined that some data was collected and downloaded.
The Board said forensic limitations associated with the ransomware deployment prevented investigators from determining whether information belonging to every Alabama nurse, applicant, licensee or member of the public was accessed. The Board said it nevertheless has reason to believe that data containing sensitive personally identifying information (SPII) and/or protected health information (PHI) may have been exposed.
Potentially affected information could include names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, professional licensing information and medical information, according to the Board.
Investigation and law enforcement cooperation
The Alabama Board of Nursing said it is cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency as the investigation continues.
The Board said its cybersecurity response has focused on containing the unauthorized activity, determining the scope of the incident, restoring services and strengthening its technology environment.
The statement did not establish that every category of information listed was accessed or that every nurse, applicant or licensee was affected.
Guidance for potentially affected individuals
The Board is advising individuals to take steps to protect their financial and personal information. Recommended precautions include enabling multifactor authentication on accounts where it is available, particularly for email, financial, health care and employment accounts.
Individuals are also encouraged to monitor bank and credit card statements, credit reports, insurance explanations of benefits and tax accounts for unfamiliar activity.
The Board said individuals may also consider placing a credit freeze or fraud alert with the major credit reporting agencies. A credit freeze is free and can restrict the opening of new credit accounts in a person’s name, while a fraud alert can prompt creditors to take additional steps to verify an applicant’s identity.
Anyone who believes they may be experiencing identity theft should contact the relevant financial institution and report suspected fraudulent activity. The Federal Trade Commission’s IdentityTheft.gov resource also provides identity-theft reporting and recovery assistance.
Board warns of potential scams
The Alabama Board of Nursing is advising members of the public to rely on verified information published through its official channels.
The Board said it will not proactively request account credentials or passwords through email, text messages or unsolicited telephone calls. Individuals should be cautious of communications claiming to be related to the cybersecurity incident that request sensitive information or login credentials.
The Board said additional individual notifications or public updates will be issued as new material information becomes available and as further statutory reviews are completed.
The Alabama Board of Nursing said it regrets the disruption and concern caused by the incident and thanked members of the nursing community, employers and the public for their patience while system recovery efforts continue.
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