May 9, 2008
Software Vendor Has Agreed to Pay for Credit Monitoring for Students
Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s attorney general, said he is encouraged by SunGard’s response this week to his questions regarding the steps the software company has taken to protect students’ personal data. The attorney general castigated SunGard last month for a computer-security breach that affected 3,502 current or former students at the Connecticut State University System. A laptop owned by a consultant for the company was stolen at a New York college campus. The laptop, which has not been recovered, contained Social Security numbers and other confidential data for tens of thousands of students at college campuses across the country.
In a phone conversation Thursday, Mr. Blumenthal said SunGard has agreed to pay for two years of credit monitoring and $25,000 in identity-theft insurance for each of the affected students in Connecticut. However, SunGard has declined to pay for students to freeze and unfreeze their credit reports, as the attorney general requested. He said officials from his office will be meeting with those from SunGard to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle has learned that two more campuses have been affected by the security lapse. About 150 students at Yeshiva University in New York City have been notified that their information was on the laptop, as have 5,400 students at Argosy University. —Andrea L. Foster
Posted on Friday May 9, 2008 | Permalink |
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