The Post-Dispatch previously obtained records through an open records request showing that the state education commissioner initially planned to thank the newspaper for finding the problem. But the state instead issued a news release calling the reporter a “hacker.”
Report: Flaw that exposed teacher data existed since 2011 | Technology
McGowin said the database — like other state computer services — is actually overseen by Parson’s Office of Administration, which the governor controls.
The highway patrol said it spent about 175 hours on the investigation. Three officers assisted in the probe. No cost estimate was provided.
The report’s release came more than a week after Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson announced he would not be charging Renaud in connection with the investigation.
The investigators also talked with cybersecurity expert Shaji Khan, who had verified for the Post-Dispatch that the flaw existed.
Khan, who teaches at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said he was alarmed by the information he’d received about the vulnerability.
Gloss