Continuing the long string of data breaches to affect students, employees and undergraduates at Connecticut State University have become the next victims in line. Those who attended institutions in the state system over the last four years are advised to contact the university to see whether or not they are an affected individual. Details are still pending about the extent of the breach, although initial estimates place the number around 3,500 impacted students, some having graduated. Unfortunately, because the university is still trying to recover the information, the ongoing investigation limits the amount of detail available to the media.

The material that was stolen contained the names and social security numbers of students; more than enough information to create a situation in which people must be weary of identity theft. Despite regulations regarding the university’s computer system, the files were not encrypted. Upon further questioning of officials, it was learned that encryption regulations apply only to files stored on the CSU servers, not offsite locations. The reason this issue becomes so important is because the data breach occurred when a business laptop of a school vendor was stolen on an on-campus visit. Although the vendor was in a public area, surveillance cameras have yet to identify the guilty party.

Despite the problem of the actual files not being encrypted, the vendor has assured the university that his computer was password protected and that “every reasonable effort is being made to locate the missing laptop.” There hasn’t been any information reported about the company that the vendor worked for or what their personal security regulations entail. Future reports should contain that information and a more thorough history of the vendor to see whether or not it has had any similar data breaches.

While the university has attempted to contact the affected individuals, the process is not yet complete. For those who are nervous or fear that they have been the victim of identity theft, there are a few steps that they should take. First of all, they should contact the university immediately. The people most likely at risk are students who attended Eastern Connecticut University, Western Connecticut University, Central Connecticut University, and Southern Connecticut University between the years 2001 and 2004.

If you were a student during that time frame and haven’t been contacted yet, you should also keep a close eye on your credit report and other personal financial information. Unfortunately, the sale of personal information is rampant on the internet and is one of the main reasons that identity theft has become so pervasive. Some of the affected individuals have been subscribing to ID theft services to protect against any of the damages associated with identity theft. Of the available institutions providing such services, many have found that Lifelock, the company that has ads displaying the president and CEO’s social security number on the side of a truck in New York City, to be a cost effective and secure option.

Tags: Central Connecticut University, Eastern Connecticut University, lifelock, Southern Connecticut University, Western Connecticut University

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 12:17 am and is filed under Individuals, School Breaches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.