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January 07, 2009, 03:31 PM ET
Number of Data Breaches at Colleges Still on the Rise
The number of data-security incidents across the country rose 47 percent between 2007 and 2008, and more educational institutions reported incidents last year than ever before, according to a new report from the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization.
The center identified 656 breaches in 2008, with 131 of them taking place at colleges or secondary schools. In 2007 there were 446 breaches reported, with 111 of them at schools or colleges.
“Some universities and colleges over the years have had multiple breaches—that’s dismaying,” said Linda Foley, the center’s founder, in an interview today. “You would think after the first or second breach that there would be a change in policy and a change in the IT procedures where this would not continue to happen.”
Still, colleges are not suffering any greater increase in breaches than other sectors, according to the report.
We would link to the report, which was available at the center’s Web site, but the site appears to be slow or unresponsive this afternoon. Ms. Foley assures us that the site is not suffering from a cyberattack. —Jeffrey R. Young
Categories: Security
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