Quick Facts

• Date: 7/17/2008
• Institution: Univerity of Maryland
• Type of Incident: Unauthorized Disclosure
• Number Affected: 24,000
• Source: ESI
• Abstract Source: Diamondback Online

Abstract
The University of Maryland is working to alert registered students over mailing labels used to send out parking brochures. These mailing labels, generated by the university's Department of Transportation Services (DOTS), accidentally contained student Social Security numbers along with name and address information. The brochures were sent out on July 1st but the mistake was not noticed until students started calling DOTS on July 8th. This incident affected all student registered for Spring 2008 classes, about 24,000 individuals in total. In an e-mail, DOTS Director David Allen, apologized for the mistake and assures students the department is taking steps to prevent this from happening in the future. In addition, the university is offering affected students free Equifax credit reports at a cost to the university of $23 per student. The university and DOTS have setup a web site - www.transportation.umd.edu/parkingmailer/ - to help answer additional questions.