It's Time to Protect Students' Data

[lyger <lyger () attrition org>]

Courtesy InfoSec News and WK:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2006/tc20060710_558020.htm

By Scott Olson
Viewpoint
JULY 10, 2006

A third of all data leaks are at universities. Academia should be held to
stricter record confidentiality standards

It pains me to say it: I am advocating government intervention and new
regulations. But, as they say, special circumstances apply.

As an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin, specifically its
McCombs School of Business, I was chagrined to learn that hackers recently
gained access to some of the school's 197,000 recordssome of which
included my Social Security number (SSN) and other personal information,
as well as that of many other alums.

I've signed up with a credit-monitoring bureau and requested that the
three main credit-reporting agencies put a fraud alert on my records. So
the hackers have already made off with quite a lot: my time, my money, and
my already fragile peace of mind.

[...]

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