The University of Rhode Island (URI) learned of a breach involving the inappropriate collection and possible use of information related to some URI email accounts, as well as personal email and Facebook accounts.
How many victims? Approximately 3,000 current and former students.
What type of personal information? Names, dates of birth, @my.uri.edu email addresses and passwords, and some private email addresses – Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail – and passwords. There is evidence indicating that some Facebook accounts were accessed.
What happened? URI learned of a breach involving the inappropriate collection and possible use of information related to some URI email accounts, as well as personal email and Facebook accounts.
What was the response? URI is notifying all affected individuals, and asking them to change their passwords.
Details: An investigation is ongoing, including into the timeline of the incident.
Quote: “[Some reports implied] that someone hacked into our email system and stole the data,” a URI spokesperson said. “There's currently no evidence to suggest that. All we know is that the perpetrator accessed individual email accounts, not necessarily the system itself.”
Source: A Friday email correspondence with a URI spokesperson; a URI statement emailed to SCMagazine.com; web.uri.edu, “Data Security Issue,” Aug. 20, 2015.
