If you’ve taken a math class at Purdue, your security could be at risk.
Purdue University (PU) said 7,093 former students and faculty who took part in a math course could be at risk.
University officials said an unauthorized person broke into their computer system on April 5, 2010, and tried to use the server to attack other servers.
Purdue University staff learned of the breach three days after it happened and immediately took the server off-line.
PU staff said there was no evidence the intruder accessed files, but there was personal information files available dating back to 2000 through the summer session of 2005, which had been placed on the computer in error.
Read more on WFLI.
Yes, the story says 2010 and that they learned of the breach three days later. So why is this announcement being made in 2011? A statement on Purdue’s site dated today explains:
Purdue University is informing 7,093 former students who took mathematics courses, faculty and some others that an unauthorized user may have gained access to information about them. Those affected have been notified by personal letter.
The breach occurred on April 5, 2010. Purdue staff learned of the breach three days later and immediately took the server off line. Although the intruder left no evidence of seeking or accessing the files, there were files with personal information present – mainly older course records from 2000 through the summer session of 2005 – that had been placed on the computer in error.
Examination of the breach indicated its characteristics were not consistent with an attack designed to gather data from the system, but rather an attempt to use the system to launch attacks against other servers.
However, Purdue staff conducted an in-depth and time-intensive forensic examination to determine what types of data might have been exposed during the breach. The scan of the system determined there were 6.6 million nine-digit numbers found in files created by 286 different users. Establishing which numbers could be actual Social Security numbers required individual examinations of the context of each number with the file owners and took six months to accomplish. That left 64,268 numbers that could still have been Social Security numbers, and an additional four months was needed to refine the scanning techniques, employ additional forensics and determine the actual number of Social Security numbers was 7,093.
The team then matched the numbers to their owners and informed the Indiana Attorney General’s office in late June 2011. The math department was then able to notify the owners of the numbers.
“Through our investigation, we found no evidence that the unauthorized user attempted to find or read any files with personal information in our system, but felt informing people who may have been affected was a necessary precaution,” said Laszlo Lempert, head of the Department of Mathematics. “We regret the breach occurred, and we’ve taken extensive measures to prevent this from happening again.”
In addition to former students, a small number of faculty, family members and contractors also have been informed that they were potentially affected. The notification letter provides a toll-free phone number for inquiries at 866-520-0492.
Under university policy, Social Security numbers are no longer used except where required by law. Instead, all students, alumni, faculty and staff, and others whose records are kept for business reasons are assigned a Purdue identification number.
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So what do you think? Should the examination have taken 10 months or is this an unacceptable delay? And does the Indiana Attorney General’s Office think this was an excusable delay?