An employee at a Miami University branch campus lost a hand-held personal computer containing private information on 851 students, but school officials said they don't believe that the data has been used unlawfully.
The recent case involves a potential breach of privacy that the school takes very seriously, said Kelly Cowan, interim dean at the Middletown campus.
Students affected were enrolled between July 2001 and May 2006, representing about 8 percent of the students on campus during that five-year period.
It's the second security breach at Miami since last September, when officials said a report containing some private information on students was accidentally placed in a file accessible through the Internet.
It included names, Social Security numbers and information on the 21,762 students enrolled on all Miami campuses in the fall of 2002.
Cowan said the school is tightening its security and increasing employee training.
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