Breach, Data Security

FHSU former student data inadvertently posted online

Fort Hays State University in Kansas is notifying more than a hundred former students that an employee inadvertently made their personal information – including Social Security numbers – available online.

How many victims? 138. 

What type of personal information? Social Security numbers and “personal information.”

What happened? An employee inadvertently made the information available online.

What was the response? The information was removed. All impacted former students were notified. New software has been implemented to ensure an accidental breach does not happen again.

Details: The University discovered the issue “last week.” The information was accessible via a departmental website and was online for less than a month. The files were “several” years old – Social Security numbers have not been kept by the University for more than five years.

Quote: “We sincerely regretted the breach and that all appropriate steps had been taken to notify the proper parties and to ensure that to the extent possible they are in the best position to guard against any negative consequences,” Kent Steward, University relations director, said.

Source: kwch.com, “FHSU data breach compromises student information,” Sept. 30, 2014; ksn.com, “Fort Hays State University experiences data breach,” Oct. 1, 2014.

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