261 Dickinson Law Alumni Warned of Possibly Breached Info
Updated: Dickinson School of Law gave 261 alumni some bad news last month: Malicious software had infected a university computer containing an archived list including their Social Security numbers.
The former students were warned under a 2006 state law requiring notification whenever anyone’s personal information is potentially disclosed by a lost or compromised computer, the Associated Press reports. School officials have said there is no evidence that the information was actually obtained by unauthorized users.
Ellen Foreman, director of communications at Dickinson, told the ABA Journal that an “intrusion detection system” alerted the school’s information technology team to the problem. Within minutes, the IT team had taken the infected computer offline.
Foreman said earlier reports were wrong when they indicated that the Social Security numbers belonged to current students. Instead, the numbers belonged to alumni.
Those alumni weren’t the only ones affected. Nearly 30,000 individuals associated with Penn State could have had their Social Security numbers exposed because of the malware infection, AP says. There is no evidence of actual access, though, the university adds.
Updated on Jan. 11 to include information from a school spokeswoman. Revised article says alumni, rather than students, were affected.
