U Georgia Looks into Server Breach

The University of Georgia this week said it's investigating a security breach that might have exposed as many as 4,250 Social Security numbers, including those of several hundred current residents. The actual incident occured in late December and was the second discovery of a breach potentially exposing SSNs at the University of Georgia in 2007.

According to a release issued by U Georgia Jan. 8, a hacker with an overseas IP address accessed a campus server between Dec. 29 and Dec. 31. The server contained 4,250 Social Security numbers, names, and addresses of current, former, and prospective residents of the university's graduate family housing. The server was taken immediately offline upon discovery Dec. 31.

"We deeply regret this situation and will take steps to notify and support the affected students and alumni," said Arnett C. Mace Jr., senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, in a statement released Tuesday. "We will review the measures that were in place on this server and reiterate our protocols for maintaining security against such intrusions."

U Georgia CISO Stan Gatewood said Tuesday there's no evidence that personal information was actually stolen. However, he did encourage those affected by the breach to read up on identity theft at the Federal Trade Commission and Georgia attorney general's sites.

Meanwhile, the university this week began attempting to contact all individuals whose information might have been exposed, according to a U Georgia news release.

Back in February 2007, U Georgia reported that a university database was breached, again by an overseas hacker, exposing some 3,500 student and alumni Social Security numbers and other information. That database belonged to the university's Disability Resource Center. Blame was assigned at the time to a failure to install security patches. The actual date of this breach was unclear but may have occured as early as November 2006.

Read More:


About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


Featured

  • SXSW EDU

    Explore the Future of AI in Higher Ed at SXSW EDU 2025

    This March 3-6 in Austin, TX, the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival celebrates its 15th year of exploring education's most critical issues and providing a forum for creativity, innovation, and expression.

  • man working on laptop outdoors

    Digital Leadership Must-Haves for 2025: A CDO's Picks

    Now that he's more than a year and a half into his chief digital officer role at NJIT, we've asked Ed Wozencroft to reflect on his areas of concentration: What work must digital leaders "own" in 2025?

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.

  • digital artwork of glowing, interconnected neural-like shapes on a gradient background of deep blue and vibrant purple

    Google Announces Upgrade to Flagship Gemini AI Platform, Enhancing Multimodal Capabilities

    Google has launched Gemini 2.0, designed to empower enterprise users and developers with advanced multimodal capabilities and enhanced performance.