[Dataloss] Western Illinois University: 240K SSNs, plus CC#s

[Chris Walsh]

Associated Press

MACOMB, Ill. - The names, addresses and Social Security numbers for  
as many as 240,000 people connected to Western Illinois University  
were compromised by a hacker earlier this month, school officials said.

A hacker was in the system for a "relatively short period of time,"  
and officials do not know if any records were viewed or copied, said  
Mitch Davidson, director of University Computer Support Services. He  
said the school has not had any reports of the records being used  
improperly.

The incident occurred on June 5 when someone accessed the WIU system  
that stores students' personal data, Davidson said. The system also  
holds credit card information for anyone who used the Web to buy  
items from the school's bookstore or who stayed in the hotel in the  
school's union.

"We regret any inconvenience and problems this breach may cause  
individuals," Davidson said Friday. "We are working diligently to  
ensure that the university computer systems are as secure as  
possible, with the goal that this type of breach does not occur again."

School officials were aware of the breach on the day it happened but  
did not announce it publicly until this week. The school dealt  
quickly with the immediate breach of security, but took some time to  
create a plan to deal with the issue, said WIU spokesman John Maguire.

The university's Office of Public Safety was also investigating, and  
WIU planned to begin mailing letters to those affected on Monday,  
Maguire said.

[   The official WIU word on this is at http://www.wiu.edu/ 
securityalert/  ]