From their newsroom: Although most offices are winding down for the holidays, Penn State’s privacy office remains active. The University currently is working to notify nearly 30,000 individuals about privacy breaches that may have exposed their personally identifying information. Malware infections to University computers caused all of the breaches, which occurred in the Eberly College…
Category: Education Sector
PA: Malware opens door to possible information exposure
From Pennsylvania State University’s web site: A computer in the Dickinson School of Law that contained 261 Social Security numbers from an archived class list was found to be infected with malware that enabled it to communicate with an unauthorized computer outside the network. As soon as the University became aware of the malicious software…
Hacker hits NC community college system
Kristin Collins reports: Patrons of the state’s community colleges may have had their drivers license and Social Security numbers stolen by a hacker. College officials announced late today that 51,000 library users at 25 campuses, including Wake Tech and Johnston County, were the victims of a security breach in August. They said the libraries collect…
UCSF belatedly announces September data breach
Chris Rauber reports: UC San Francisco said late Tuesday it has alerted 600 patients and others that an external hacker may have obtained “temporary access to emails containing their personal information” as a result of a late September phishing scam. The breach occurred about three months ago, and was investigated in mid-October, but wasn’t disclosed…
UK: Birmingham school improves data protection
Waseley Hills High School and Sixth Form Centre in Birmingham has taken remedial action after the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found it in breach of the Data Protection Act after the theft of personal data of over 1,000 pupils and staff. The school’s previous Headteacher, Mr David Thurburton, informed the ICO of the theft of…
Update: Notre Dame U. breach affected 24,000 (updated)
As an update on a Notre Dame University breach involving exposure of personal information including SSN on the web, Sarah Mervosh of The Observer reports that 24,000 individuals, mostly employees but some students who worked for the university, were affected by the incident. Reactions to the university’s handling of the breach and notification varied, depending…