[Dataloss] followup: CO University of Colorado at Boulder

[security curmudgeon]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: InfoSec News <alerts at infosecnews.org>
Subject: [ISN] University Blames Security Breach On Un-patched Symantec Bug

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199701978

By Sharon Gaudin
InformationWeek
May 24, 2007

The University of Colorado at Boulder said sensitive information on 44,998 
students was exposed because a worm attacked the network through an 
un-patched bug in Symantec's anti-virus software.

A server in the university's College of Arts and Sciences' Academic 
Advising Center held the names and Social Security numbers of students 
enrolled at CU-Boulder from 2002 to the present, according to an online 
advisory.

On May 12, the university's IT security investigators discovered that the 
worm entered the server through the vulnerability, which the IT staff had 
failed to patch, the university reported. Investigators said they did not 
believe the hacker behind the worm was after the personal information, but 
instead was using the flaw as an entryway to other computers on the 
university network.

"The server's security settings were not properly configured and its 
sensitive data had not been fully protected," said Bobby Schnabel, 
CU-Boulder vice provost for technology, in a written statement. "Through a 
combination of human and technical errors, these personal data were 
exposed, although we have no evidence that they were extracted."

A Symantec spokesman told InformationWeek that they have been trying to 
get in touch with the university's IT team but have not yet talked to them 
to get details about the attack or even to find out what vulnerability was 
involved. "We hate to see any customer with a problem," he said. "We 
encourage customers to post patches as soon as possible."

Todd Gleeson, a dean CU-Boulder, said in a statement that he wants the 
College of Arts and Sciences IT operations to be placed under the direct 
control of the university's larger IT department. He said all of the 
students affected by the breach are being notified through letters mailed 
to their homes.

"We have also taken steps to ensure that all sensitive personal data has 
been removed from our Academic Advising Center servers," said Gleeson. "I 
want to assure our past and present students that we have taken strong 
measures to protect our advising center computers and our students' 
personal information."

Students who are looking for more information about protecting themselves 
following a data exposure can go to the advisory Web site.