U South Carolina PC Theft Hits 7,000

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/13/08

The University of South Carolina has reported a burglary that included the theft of a desktop computer containing personal information on 7,000 faculty, staff and students. According to pages posted on the schools' Web site and an article in The State, a South Carolina daily newspaper, the theft occurred in the Moore School of Business over Memorial Day weekend and involved a PC belonging to a deputy dean.

The school said it has no evidence that the personal information, including social security numbers, contained on the PC was actually accessed. But USC took several steps that have become standard operating procedure in the event of a data breach: It has set up a fraud alert service for individuals who may have had their personal information stored on the computer and posted frequently asked questions for students and faculty explaining the basics of the event and what they should do to protect themselves.

The State said this is the third major security breach to hit the school in the last two years.