Entries tagged with “Breaches” from Identity Lock Box

The University of Texas said it works hard to notify students about how to avoid identity theft, but the school put some of its own at risk.

The Personal information, including Social Security numbers of 22 current and former students, was posted and available to access on a university FTP site in late September.

All the students impacted were enrolled in a petroleum and geosystems class during the summers of 2001 and 2002.

The university took the files offline within hours after being notified by SSNBreach.org, but not before 22 students' Social Security numbers were exposed.

The university said there is an ongoing effort to get rid of using Social Security numbers except where they are needed.

In an apparent administrative error, the personal information of more than 600 Queens University students was emailed to other students. Queens University is located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The information contained names, addresses, student IDs and social security numbers of the affected students.

University administrators have notified affected students by email, U.S. mail, and phone. Additionally, the university has contracted with a fraud and credit monitoring service for the next 12 months. Students will receive email alerts on changes to credit reports and insurance against identity theft.

Approximately 3,100 current and past Tennessee Tech University students were notified that some of their personal information may have been compromised.

On September 11, a problem in the way student bills are process resulted in some student's social security numbers and personal identification numbers appearing on the billing statements of other students.

The university has emails letters to affected students notifying them of the problem and outlining steps to help prevent possible fraud. Information about contacting credit reporting agencies and credit fraud alert services was mailed to them.

Details: http://www.tntech.edu/publicaffairs/security/

Source: "Technical Glitch Could Make Personal Data for Some TTU Students Vulnerable," Sept. 14, The Herald_Citizen.

Thieves stole two computers from the Pennsylvania Public Welfare Agency that contained the personal records of people who receive medial assistance benefits for the treatment of mental health and substance abuse problems. The information stored on the computers included the names and Social Security numbers of people receiving benefits.

The department of Public Welfare has begun the process of notifying close to 375,000 people who receive benefits and who could potentially be affected by the thefts. The department is notifying patients of the steps they can take to avoid and identify identity theft.

Source: "Computers stolen from Pa. public-welfare agency had consumer info," Sept. 11, Associated Press.

The personal information of 106,000 Connecticut state taxpayers was put at risk when a laptop was stolen from the state's Department of Revenue Services. The laptop contained the names and Social Security numbers of 10% of the state's taxpayers.

The Department of Revenue Services has set up a toll-free number for victims and the state plans to launch a section on their web site for taxpayers to determine if they are affected by the theft. The web site will also attempt to educate victims on how to alert the three major credit reporting agencies.

If you believe you may have been affected by this incident please contact the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services or go to http://www.ct.gov/drs

Patient records were available by web search during a four-week period after Sky Lakes Medical Center (Oregon) shut down its online bill-payment system, and a third-party, Verus, Inc., transferred the data from one server to another to perform maintenance.

The information included patient names, addresses and Social Security numbers. The hospital sent letters to 30,000 patients to disclose the problem.

The records were discovered online when a patient at another hospital was able to access his records while searching the internet.

Source: Klamath Falls Herald and News, Aug. 15, "Online bill pay at Sky Lakes shut down"

Two laptops were stolen on May 31 from a locked car in Boston. The laptops were in the possession of management-consulting firm Axia Ltd.

The laptops contained the personal information of 950 health care professionals - including taxpayer identification numbers, home and business addresses, telephone and fax numbers, email addresses and compensation information. The personal information belongs to health care professionals who were providing or considering providing, contract services for Pfizer.

Source: The Day of New London, Aug. 14, "Pfizer reports laptops stolen in second breach in two months"