Connecticut college computer infected with malware, 18K affected

The Zbot, or Zeus, trojan infected a computer at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in New Britain to expose the Social Security numbers of thousands of people related to the college.

How many victims? 18,275 current and former faculty, staff and student workers.

What type of personal information? Social Security numbers.

What happened? A computer in the CCSU business office was infected with the trojan in December, and sat on the system for eight days before it was detected and removed. A forensic analysis could not conclude whether the information was stolen or used in a wrongful way.

What was the response? The university is in the process of corresponding names with the Social Security numbers in order to notify victims. The university will provide them with two years of free identity protection services.

Quote: "I deeply regret any inconvenience or anxiety this incident may cause you and your family," school President Jack Miller said. "All of us involved in responding to this incident understand how important one's personal information is and how critical it is to safeguard it."

Source: www.ccsu.edu, "CCSU warns of potential personal information breach," Feb. 16, 2012.