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Video Hacker Exposes Data on 130,000 People at Eastern Washington U

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 01/08/10

IT staff at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA are blaming a hacker who wanted to store and share video files on a computer network for creating a security breach that could potentially have affected up to 130,000 people. According to the university, the data breach was discovered during an assessment of its computer network.

The university has notified current and former students whose information--including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth--were on the computer system in question. The student information goes back to 1987.

In the letter (PDF) sent to those affected, President Rodolfo Arévalo offered his regrets for the breach and said that the university doesn't believe the personal information was misused. "Eastern is taking this matter seriously and is committed to maintaining the privacy of your information by continually upgrading systems and practices to enhance the security of sensitive information," the letter stated. "I sincerely regret the inconvenience this incident presents to you."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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