The University of Iowa College of Engineering has notified some 216 of its former students that some of their personal information, including Social Security numbers, was inadvertently exposed on the Internet for several months, until the erroneous file location was discovered in early January 2008. The information did not include birth dates, specific grades, or any financial information, such as credit card numbers.
UI technology staff believes there is little risk that the information was or will be misused; however, they are advising the stu-dents to take precautions to protect their financial information by placing "fraud alerts" on their files with the three major credit bureaus.
"Although the students affected are at minimal risk for identity theft or any kind of abuse of their personal information, it.s in keeping with our policy to let them know that this incident occurred and to suggest they be proactive in protecting their financial information," said UI Information Technology Security Officer Jane Drews.
The college apologized for the incident, has corrected the problem, and said it would answer students. questions and provide assistance, if needed.