Michaela Whitbourn reports: The University of Sydney has admitted it “lost” a notebook computer containing sensitive information about students using disability support services, in a major privacy breach that has shocked and angered students. As the Baird government is urged to tackle privacy law reform, the university warned on Friday it could not “absolutely guarantee the security”…
Category: Education Sector
California man hacked CMU student’s account, prosecutors say
Brian Bowling reports: A California college student hacked the student account of a Carnegie Mellon University student to steal her identity and attempt to get credit cards and personal loans in her name, federal prosecutors said. A federal grand jury indicted Dennis C. Liu, 23, of San Marino, Calif., in May on three counts of…
PA: Luzerne County Community College email gaffe exposed faculty SSNs, W-2 info
Eric Mark reports: An email mistakenly sent by Luzerne County Community College to staff and faculty members on Wednesday has raised privacy concerns about personal information contained in an attachment to the message. The email, sent Wednesday afternoon to 264 full-time LCCC employees, concerned revisions to W-2 forms for faculty and staff members. However, the…
Data breach at Illinois State University involving payments to employees
Adam Studzinski reports that a data breach at Illinois State University caused the payroll of 13 university employees to be misdirected. But from the coverage, it doesn’t sound like their payments were misdirected to other employees, but rather, to criminals. The university is investigating how the breach occurred. Groves added it appears at least five other universities…
Stolen contractor laptop had special-education student data for Montgomery County students
Donna St. George reports: A contractor working with the Montgomery County school system has informed the parents of about 340 special-education students that the children’s private data was on a computer stolen during a break-in. WestEd, a nonprofit research organization, acquired the student data from Montgomery County school officials as it conducted a review of…
Update: Second arrest in Jackson State U. data breach (updated)
Jasmina Alston reports that a second student has now been arrested in connection with the theft – and creation of a searchable database of – 40,000 Jacksonville State University student and faculty data. According to the university, suspects obtained the data by using log in information for a management database used by an institutional office. This is still…