14 DAY TRIAL // A number of 8,000 graduate students and applicants at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) have their social security numbers (SSN) exposed due to a computer theft incident.
A break-in occurred on March 13 at the campus’ graduate division offices, and it resulted in the burglars getting away with a desktop computer that stored sensitive information.
More than SSNs could have been exposed
Announcing the event this late could not be avoided, officials say, because an investigation had to be conducted to determine the type of data available on the machine, as well as to whom it belonged.
After finding out who was affected by the incident, UCR initiated the process of notifying them of the potential data leak. Most of the 8,000 people have already been informed, officials say.
According to Kris Lovekin, UCR campus spokeswoman, some of the files exposed dated as far back as 25 years, which makes it difficult to contact all impacted individuals.
It is unclear if other type of information was present on the stolen machine, but it is likely that not only SSNs got exposed. Databases contain pieces of information that are associated to one another. As such, even if SSNs were in a separate database, they needed to be connected to individuals, so it is safe to assume that at least the names of the owners were leaked as well.
University computer network believed to be safe
At the moment, there is no hint that the stolen information has been used for nefarious activities such as identity theft. Nevertheless, SSNs cannot be changed as easily as an email address, so anyone with access to the list can hold on to it and use it at a later time.
There are no details about the security measures applied to the stolen desktop, or whether the files it stored benefited from encryption, which would ensure their safety.
University officials have said that they do not believe that the system contained any data that could be used to access the computer network of the educational institution.