Despite its beautiful campus and ivy covered buildings, Stanford is not immune to the problems of educational institutions in the 21st century. It was reported yesterday that the university recently was the victim of a series of thefts, one of which involved a laptop computer. Although the break-in occurred a few weeks ago, it was only noted today that the laptop contained personal data which could allow someone to perpetrate identity theft among any of the individuals listed in the database. Unfortunately, this breach not only hits a well respected institution in the United States, but it also has the potential to affect upwards of 60,000 people.

While this 60,000 people does not actually included any students, the university has not addressed whether or not research assistance or any student who has served as an aid to a professor happens to fall under this category. As it stands at the moment, the 60,000 is all former or current employees, across all departments and divisions, and without any end date for the window of information contained on the laptop. The laptop contained “confidential personal material” although there is no indication if this includes social security numbers, addresses, bank routing numbers, or anything along those lines.

While more details are continuing in the investigation, Stanford has assured its faculty and staff that it takes serious all of its required security measures. Although there is no word yet on how the data on the laptop is protected, a press released by the university to the media said that it is secure and that it will be difficult for anyone to access. Also in the release is the recognition that the individual or individuals who are responsible for the crime might not even know the material is on the laptop and that everyone should keep an eye on their credit report all the same.

Vice President for Business Affairs and Chief Financial Officer Randy Livingston wrote a letter that was sent out to all the affected parties. In the letter he laid out that Stanford has many rules in place that are supposed to prevent private data from being stored on computer systems that are mobile. He said that in light of this most recent incident, these efforts will be strengthened to prevent any future problems from taking place.

Unlike Harvard, which experienced its own data breach earlier in the year (link), Stanford has not spelled out whether or not it will set up any sort of subscription services for the potentially 60,000 affected people. These subscription services involved ID theft companies, such as Lifelock, that monitor the three major credit bureaus. Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian are all notified and Lifelock contacts its customers whenever a new credit card or loan application is filed. By contacting the consumer at this early phase, it significantly limits the likelihood that any identity theft will take place under the affected person’s account. While the letter to the affected employees does not contain any reference to these services, experts in the field of identity theft solutions recognize their benefit, whereas stopping the problem before it starts is much easier than the hassle of having to go through and deal with a large number of fraudulent charges.