Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance Cyberattack
Summary
A late September 2025 cyber incident disrupted the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance, taking IT systems and START college savings access offline. TOPS scholarship and START transactions faced delays, staff lost phone and email access, and offices closed. Limited account access returned Oct. 8; START operations and LOSFA offices had resumed by Oct. 27. A later student notice, reported by WBRZ, said an unauthorized party accessed or removed non-START files containing names and Social Security numbers.
Key facts
Timeline
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First public signal:
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Earliest public indication of an outage, disruption, closure or other observable incident impact. The signal does not need to mention cybersecurity. -
First public cyber evidence:
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Earliest credible public information connecting the incident or disruption to malicious cyber activity. -
Official cyber disclosure:
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First official acknowledgment by the affected organization or an authoritative public body that the incident was cyber-related.
Primary victim organization
Impacted locations
Organization types
Critical infrastructure sector
DysruptionHub coverage
Incident characteristics
Assessments
Data impacts
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Unauthorized data access
An unauthorized party accessed or viewed data without evidence that the data was copied, removed, altered, or publicly disclosed.
Operational impacts
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Phone service disruption
Telephone, voice-over-IP, call-center, or related voice communication services were unavailable or materially impaired.
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Internal systems unavailable
Internal business, administrative, operational, or staff-facing systems were unavailable.
Incident narrative
Analyst assessment
The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance said Oct. 2 that an incident disrupted its IT systems and could delay TOPS scholarship and START college savings payments. DysruptionHub reported the outage Oct. 4, before its cyber cause was confirmed. The Louisiana Board of Regents confirmed Oct. 10 that a cyber incident led to the START system being taken offline.
Service effects and recovery
Regents said Oct. 6 it was working with state police and other state agencies to restore systems, and it asked educational institutions to accommodate affected students. Limited START account access, the Louisiana Award System and Student Hub returned Oct. 8, but account information did not yet reflect transactions after Sept. 26. On Oct. 13, LOSFA offices remained closed; essential staff worked at the Regents’ Claiborne Building offices while phone and email service and transaction processing were restored. An Oct. 17 update said all START accounts had trading and posting delays, though trading and disbursements had resumed. By Oct. 27, LOSFA offices had reopened at the Galvez Building, START had resumed full operations, and all deposits had been processed.
Data scope and limits
A Nov. 17 forensic update said the START program was not involved in the cyber incident, but certain other LOSFA files were. WBRZ reported Dec. 20 that a Dec. 5 LOSFA notification letter told students an unauthorized party accessed or removed files containing their names and Social Security numbers. WBRZ said LOSFA referred its questions about the affected-person count to the Nov. 17 release, so the count remains unknown. The reviewed public record does not establish the intruder, initial access method, encryption, ransom demand or payment.
Organizations involved
Impacted locations
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
LOSFA office location at the Galvez Building, Baton Rouge; office closure and reopening documented.
Louisiana
Statewide student-aid service jurisdiction; no claim every school or student experienced an outage.
Sources
DysruptionHub reported LOSFA systems and service disruption while cyber cause remained unconfirmed as of publication.
LOSFA said an incident disrupted IT systems, warned of potential TOPS and START payment delays, and said state police and other state offices were assisting.
The Times-Picayune reported inaccessible START and TOPS tools and an earlier LOSFA Facebook notice of technical difficulty.
LOSFA remained offline; state police, OTS and GOHSEP were working on restoration and educational institutions were asked to accommodate affected students.
START accounts, the Louisiana Award System and Student Hub returned with limited functionality; transactions after Sept. 26 had not yet posted or been processed.
Regents explicitly confirmed a cyber incident led the entire START system to be taken offline; 40,000 account holders were emailed and other holders were to be mailed.
LOSFA offices remained closed; essential staff worked from Regents offices while phone and email restoration and transaction processing continued.
Regents said the incident was contained, START trading and disbursements had resumed, while all accounts had suffered trading and posting delays.
LOSFA offices reopened at the Galvez Building in Baton Rouge; START had resumed full operations and all deposits had been processed.
Forensic review found START account program was not involved but certain other LOSFA files were; contents remained under review and individual notification depended on findings.
WBRZ reported a Dec. 5 LOSFA student letter said an unauthorized party accessed or removed non-START files that included recipients’ names and Social Security numbers.
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