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June 08, 2007, 03:44 PM ET
Another Campus-Security Breach
The University of Virginia discovered last month that 5,735 faculty members had their Social Security numbers exposed to hackers.
Shirley C. Payne, director of information-technology security and policy, said officials inadvertently had attached sensitive personnel information to a Web application. The data were never posted online, she said, but hackers were able to gain access to it on 54 days over the course of the past two years. Officials discovered the error in the process of instituting a project to limit the use of Social Security numbers on campus.
The personnel whose records were exposed include both current and former faculty members. The breach exposed other personal information as well, including faculty members’ race, tenure status, marital status, and employment history.
The university discovered the problem last month and has removed the information. Each of the professors is being notified of the security breach via e-mail and regular mail. And although no salary or other financial information was compromised, Ms. Payne said, the university is providing a year of free credit monitoring to those involved.
University police officers, with help from the FBI, are investigating the incident. —Dan Carnevale
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