Colorado State Files Place Student Information Online
Quick Facts
- Date: 1/18/2008
- Institution: Colorado State University
- Type of Incident: Unauthorized Exposure
- Number Affected: 300
- Source: SSNBreach.org
- Abstract Source: SSNBreach.org Press Release
Abstract
SSNBreach.org announced that it found four files on a Colorado State University web site containing the personal information on 300 students. These files contained 208 Social Security numbers, usernames and passwords on former Colorado State Warner College of Natural Resources students. The files appear to have been created between 2000 and 2004. The files were removed immediately after notification. Colorado State University Associate Director of Academic Computing & Networking Services Scott Baily stated, "Colorado State University takes personal privacy very seriously, and has policies against maintaining unencrypted files containing sensitive information. Indeed, last year we undertook a campus-wide SSN purge activity, where University-owned computers were scanned in an attempt to remove all files containing sensitive information.... I have contacted Yahoo, the only search engine that we can confirm had these files in their cache.... A total of 114 unique SSNs are involved. CSU has initiated a course of action to notify the affected parties to the extent possible."
