Colleges Nationwide Breach Students’ Sensitive
Information
Since July 2009, More Than 1 Million Students, Alumni, and Faculty Have Reportedly Been Affected
August 09, 2010 08:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time
TEMPE, Ariz.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Personally identifiable information (PII) is arguably a consumer’s
most valuable possession, and LifeLock, Inc. (www.lifelock.com), an industry leader in proactive identity theft
protection, aims to continuously educate consumers on the best ways to protect PII. College students nationwide
can be especially vulnerable to identity theft because they often give out PII; some universities have even been
known to use a student’s Social Security number (SSN) as their student identification number, sometimes displayed
on a student ID card. Over the last year, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) estimates that more than one million
students, alumni and faculty have been affected by a data loss, or breach, of personal information.
Since July 2009, an estimated 72 breaches in 30 states have been reported, according to PRC. PRC’s Web site
shows that in approximately 88 percent of these instances, a student or individual’s SSN was exposed. A number of
the listed breaches on Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s Web site do not specify the number of affected individuals,
implying that this number could actually be higher.
“When I received a letter in the mail stating that my university had breached my personal information, I honestly
didn’t know what I was supposed to do,” said Melinda Smith, an alumnus of a large university in Iowa. “I felt
overwhelmed knowing that my information was out there and I had no way to know who might have their hands on
it.”
Personal information can be breached in various ways, including hackers gaining unlawful access to computer files
containing student information (even SSNs), or a dishonest or disgruntled university employee obtaining computer
files containing sensitive records and then selling the records to savvy identity t