<a href="http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8215997" target="_blank"></a><font style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>SCSU security breach<br></b></font><font color="#000000" size="2">
<div name="storyBody" style="display: inline;"><p>By News Channel 8's Erin Cox<br>Posted April 23, 2008<br>Updated 3:30 PM<br><a href="http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8215997" target="_blank">http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8215997</a><br>
</p> <p>New
Haven (WTNH) _ Southern Connecticut State University is taking action
Wednesday evening to prevent its students from becoming victims of
identity theft. The move comes after a website with student and alumni
information was found to be easily accessible to hackers.</p> <p>It
seems to be a care free life as a college student, but some students at
Southern are uneasy to learn their personal information could be
floating out there because of the security breach.</p> <p>"I didn't even known about it until you brought it up," Shelrica McKenizie, a senior at Southern, said. "That's shocking to me."</p> <p>
SCSU
says records of about 11,000 students and alumni may have been
compromised by hackers. These days, students turn over a lot of
personal identity information to their schools.</p> <p>"Social,
insurance, everything," Brandon Lee, a senior at Southern, noted. "So,
it's kind of scary that someone out there could have my information."</p> <p>"It's
all our information," Desiree Pacaud, a freshman at Southern, said.
"It's unsettling especially financial aid information -- because it's
not just my information, it's both my parents'.</p> <p>It appears that
no financial information was accessed but Southern admits that social
security numbers were vulnerable. However, the breach at Southern is
prompting a warning to administrators at other state schools -- like
Eastern, Western, Central and even UConn.</p> <p>The attorney general
is telling them to make sure personal information is better protected.
"There is a huge amount of confidential, financial and personal
information that is submitted by the students," Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal said. "Their parents and families, in these web
servers, [are] potentially at risk if someone hacks into the system as
they did at Southern. </p> <p>"I don't know what they don't have,"
Adam Nesteruk, a senior at Southern, said. "I think, honestly, they
know pretty much everything about me and my family."<br></p> <p>A help desk has been established to respond to questions at (203) 392-7216 or you can visit <a href="http://www.southernct.edu/creditmonitoring" target="_blank">www.southernct.edu/creditmonitoring</a> </p>
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