TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Hacker Accesses Students Personal Information

Hacker Accesses Students Personal Information

Associated Press News Wire (ap@telecom-digest.org)
Tue, 08 May 2007 19:45:29 -0500

Hacker breaches database at University of Missouri-Columbia
-- Social Security numbers of 22,396 students accessed
-- Hacker obtained the information through a Web page
-- University is contacting people affected by the breach

COLUMBIA, Missouri (AP) -- A computer hacker accessed the Social
Security numbers of more than 22,000 current or former students at the
University of Missouri, the second such attack this year, school
officials said Tuesday. The FBI is investigating.

University officials said campus computer technicians confirmed a
breach of a database last week by a user or users whose Internet
accounts were traced to China and Australia.

The hacker accessed personal information of 22,396 University of
Missouri-Columbia students or alumni who also worked at one of the
system's four campuses in St. Louis, Kansas City, Rolla or Columbia in
2004.

The hacker obtained the information through a Web page used to make
queries about the status of trouble reports to the university's
computer help desk, which is based in Columbia. The information had
been compiled for a report, but the data had not been removed from the
computer system.

In January, a hacker obtained the Social Security numbers of 1,220
university researchers, as well as personal passwords of as many as
2,500 people who used an online grant application system.

The university is contacting people affected by the latest breach and
providing instructions on how to monitor their credit reports and
other financial records for suspicious activity, officials said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

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