North Carolina community college library users' data exposed

Sensitive data belonging to the library users at a number of North Carolina state-run community colleges may have been compromised when a server was hacked.

How many victims? 51,000.

What type of personal information? Social Security and driver's license numbers.

What happened? A hacker, earlier this year, was able to access a central server used by libraries at 25 community college campuses. The server stored the personal information, which was used to identify library users.

What was the response? The affected colleges are notifying victims, and officials plan to remove any personal data stored on the server.

Quote: "Our colleges and our system office are making every effort to ensure that personal information is permanently removed from our records," said Saundra Williams, a senior vice president with the state Community College System.

Source: The News & Observer, newsobserver.com ,"Hacker hit community college system," Dec. 17, 2009.