On November 20, Auburn University became aware of that a server in the College of Business network had been compromised. Subsequent investigation revealed that names and Social Security numbers may have accessed.
They are now sending out notification letters, although it is not clear how many individuals are being notified and whether they are all students, staff, or both. Those being notified are being offered free credit protection monitoring with Experian ProtectMyID.
Four months seems like a long delay between discovery and notification by current standards, doesn’t it?
Update: Jeanne Price of idRADAR.com kindly forwarded a copy of the statement she obtained from Auburn University:
Statement from Auburn University regarding cyber attack on College of Business:
On November 20, 2013, Auburn University became aware of a compromised server within the College of Business network. Auburn immediately patched the vulnerability and launched an internal investigation to determine the scope of the attack. When it became clear that this incident could result in the unauthorized access to personal information, Auburn University hired an independent, third-party computer forensics expert to assist in identifying the full extent of data potentially exposed as a result of this incident.
The unidentified hacker could have accessed the server between October 21, 2013 and November 20, 2014. The FBI has been notified of this incident, and investigations are ongoing.
Personal information relating to 13,698 individuals was identified on the compromised server. The information on this server varies by person but mainly pertained to courses being taken by current and former Auburn students and work performed by current and former faculty and staff. Auburn has no evidence that the files containing personal information were actually
accessed and is unaware of any actual or attempted misuse of this personal information. The university is offering each person affected one free year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services with Experian.Statement from College of Business Dean Bill Hardgrave:
We truly regret the inconvenience and concern that this cyber attack may cause to our college¹s constituents. We take this incident very seriously and hope that the FBI investigation provides answers. The vulnerable server was repaired immediately, and while the investigation has not revealed any misuse of data, we are prepared to provide all individuals with credit monitoring services.
You can read Jeanne’s coverage of the breach and other breaches involving Auburn U. on idRADAR.com.