Rice University officials are in the process of notifying 7,000-plus students and employees that their most personal information was compromised last month when someone made off with a portable device.
As eSecurity Planet reports, the data breach is under investigation by university and local law enforcement. In the meantime, affected students and staffers will have to pay close attention to their credit reports and banking and credit card accounts.
One of the files contained a list of Rice employees and students on the university’s payroll as of January 2010. The file included names, addresses, birth dates, salaries, emergency contact information and employee identification numbers.
Another file hosted some Social Security numbers, mostly of university employees, the school said.
A stolen storage device containing the names, Social Security numbers and other personally identifying information of more than 7,000 Rice University students and staff members was stolen last month in the latest security breach at a major American university.
Rice University officials are in the process of investigating the device’s theft and notifying all affected students and employees. For now, the university is offering free credit-monitoring services and reviewing its internal security procedures to prevent future thefts and security breaches.
“We apologize for this incident and for any inconvenience or problems it may cause,” university officials said an alert posted on the university’s website. “Rest assured that we are taking steps to prevent it from happening again. And we appreciate your understanding and vigilance.”