Educational Security Incidents (ESI)

Quick Fact

• Date: 4/25/2009
• Institution: Texas Woman's University
• Type of Incident: Unauthorized Disclosure
• Number Affected: 12,000
• Source: ESI
• Abstract Source: Dallas News

Abstract
Texas Woman's University corrected an error in the university's degree auditing program earlier in the week. The error allowed anyone accessing the system to view the names, courses and grades of the 12,000 students enrolled at the university. The error was discovered by a TWU junior and reported to the university. According to Robert Placido, Associate Vice President of Information Technology Services, the error allowed students to access the advisor section of the Degree Audit Report System. However, this access did not allow any changes to the information. TWU staff took the system off line within four hours and the system was fixed and put back online within a day. According to Placido, out of the 36 individuals logged into the system when the error was reported, eight were unauthorized users.

Quick Facts

• Date: 12/22/2006
• Institution: Texas Woman's University
• Type of Incident: Unauthorized Disclosure
• Number Affected: 15,000
• Source: ESI
• Abstract Source: The Dallas Morning News

Abstract
Texas Woman's University alerted all 15,000 students that were enrolled during the 2005 calendar year at the university's Denton, Dallas and Houston campuses to the possibility that their personal information was exposed this week. It seems the university transmitted all of these students' IRS 1098-T Tuition Statement information to an authorized vendor over an unsecured connection. While the university does not have any evidence that this information was exposed to an unauthorized party, officials point out that the university is aware of the potential for such and is taking the matter quite seriously. TWU has setup a both a "Data Exposure Response Hotline", 940-898-3840, and a "Data Exposure Response" web site, http://www.twu.edu/response/index.asp.