A security breach at Northwest Florida State College widened on Wednesday, with nearly 300,000 people across the state potentially affected, the Northwest Florida Daily News reported. College officials said that hackers had obtained access to personal information on 76,500 of the college’s current and former students, as well as data for more than 200,000 scholarship-eligible students from across the state whose records were in the college’s system.
The compromised student data include names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. Some 3,200 employees are also affected, the college said, and their data may include bank-account numbers used for direct deposit. Cases of identity theft have already been reported, with information used to take out loans or open store accounts and make purchases.
