On May 18, Plymouth State University noticed that an external hard drive that they used for backup purposes was missing.
One of the files on the drive was a spreadsheet that contained the names and Social Security numbers of 1,059 students enrolled in the teacher education and certification program between 2005 and 2010.
As the university explained in their June 28 letter to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, they needed to collect Social Security Numbers so they could forward teacher candidates to the state licensing board for approval.
Unfortunately, New Hampshire is not the only state that still requires Social Security Numbers for licensing or certifying professionals, and I’m somewhat surprised that there haven’t been more hacks of state licensing board databases. Or maybe there have been and we’re just not hearing about them….
Corrected July 9, 2011: The previous version incorrectly reported 1,509 instead of 1,059 affected.