State investigates alledged hacking attack to Alabama computer system

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier says a critical state computer network was hacked earlier this month and has led to a criminal investigation. Collier said at a news conference in his office Tuesday that the cyber intrusion was discovered by employees of the Alabama Information Services Division who found that the firewall protecting the computer system had been breached. Collier and ISD Director Jack Doane released few details of the incident at Tuesday's news conference. Collier said the personal information of private citizens was not believed to have been stolen. Collier says the state has hired an information security company to assist in the investigation, to help secure the system and to institute tighter controls to help guard against future intrusion into the network.