80,000 Nurses Can’t Renew Their Licenses After a Cyberattack Took Down the State System

A cyberattack has kept the Alabama Board of Nursing’s entire online licensing system offline since September 1st, WBRC FOX6 reported. More than 80,000 nurses across the state are unable to renew their credentials online and the cyberattack has also delayed new graduates trying to get licensed.

The board has not said who was behind the intrusion, what was taken, or when the system will come back. In a service disruption notice posted September 1st, the agency said it had experienced “a disruption to certain technology systems related to a cybersecurity event” and had taken systems offline on purpose while it assessed the damage.

In the meantime, an entire state’s nursing workforce is being licensed by hand. Board staff are processing paper applications one at a time, and the agency is sending employees to community college campuses Monday and Tuesday to collect forms in person. 

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Honor Ingels, the board’s chief policy and communications officer and administrative director of its Center for Nursing Excellence, told WBRC the shutdown is deliberate and will stay in place until the system is secure. “Our number one priority is to protect the data of our licensees,” Ingels said.

She also acknowledged how it feels on the other end. “We do understand this is a frustrating process. I think everybody needs to understand that our first priority is to secure our licensees’ data and to prevent the breach from causing greater problems than it already has,” Ingels told the station.

Dr. Natalie Baker, the board’s executive officer, said in a September 10 statement that the investigation “remains active and ongoing,” that the board is working with outside cybersecurity professionals and state resources, and that officials cannot yet draw conclusions about the nature or scope of the event. No claim of responsibility has appeared in public reporting, and the board has not confirmed whether licensee data was stolen. Staff are securing data and wiping compromised devices.

September 1st is not a random date. Alabama’s renewal window opens at 8:00 a.m. on September 1st and closes at 4:30 p.m. on December 31st, and single-state RNs and APRNs renew in even-numbered years, which means 2026 is their year. The attack landed on the first morning of the cycle that roughly 80,000 nurses need to complete. Per the board’s own guidance, a license not renewed by the December 31st cutoff lapses, and the holder is “no longer legally authorized to practice” in Alabama.

New graduates are in a different bind. They can sit for and pass the NCLEX, but the board may not be able to issue an Alabama license number until systems are restored. To bridge the gap, the board began posting successful NCLEX applicants on its website starting September 8th as confirmation that they are legally authorized to practice.

Dr. Rebecca Huie, interim executive director of the Alabama State Nurses Association, said the ripple effect reaches every nursing program in the state. “Colleges and universities across the state…are graduating nurses…any of them are going to be impacted,” Huie told WBRC.

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Paper applications will be collected on six campuses next week. According to the board’s website, staff will be on site from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, September 21:

• Calhoun Community College in Decatur
• Jefferson State Community College’s Shelby-Hoover campus
• Coastal Alabama Community College in Bay Minette

On Tuesday, September 22:

• Gadsden State Community College
• Shelton State Community College’s Martin campus
• Wallace Community College in Dothan.

The paper route is open to advanced practice applicants, new RN and LPN graduates, and nurses applying by endorsement from another state. It does not cover renewals: the roughly 80,000 nurses due to renew have no workaround yet, though the window runs through December 31st and the board says it will keep posting updates. Applications are not processed on site; they go back to the Montgomery office. The board has said it cannot process incomplete applications, so check your packet twice.

Bring the right kind of payment. The board is requiring certified funds (a cashier’s check or money order) or a personal check drawn on an Alabama bank with your name printed on it. Applications can also be mailed or dropped off at the Montgomery office.

Employers can still verify you. While the board’s own verification tool is down, hospitals and staffing agencies are being directed to the Nursys national licensure database, where records are current through August 31st, and to the board’s recently licensed list, which is updated daily. New nurses who have not yet received an Alabama license number can be identified by the unique identifier assigned by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. If a manager tells you your license “doesn’t show up,” that is the workaround to point them to.

Watch for scams. The board is warning that people are impersonating its investigators, and that scammers can spoof phone numbers and forge documents. Real board investigations arrive as a written Notice of Investigation. Legitimate board staff will never demand secrecy or immediate payment of a fee.

Document everything. Keep copies of every form you submit, every check number, and the date you dropped it off or mailed it. If your renewal is still pending as December approaches, that paper trail is your evidence that you filed on time, and it is worth looping in your employer’s credentialing office early rather than at the deadline.

There is still no announced restoration date, and the board says it has processed every application it has received so far. Alabama nurses should expect to hear more as the investigation develops, including whether any licensee data was exposed.

🤔 Alabama nurses: has the outage held up your renewal, your new license, or a job offer, and has your employer been understanding about it? Tell us in the comments.