Identify Theft

My lovely alma mater has screwed me. I received this e-mail yesterday. Someone's inept management of a server has resulted in the exposure of personal information for over a year. A Year!!! This amounts to criminal negiligence. This will impact the universities ability to raise funds for many years.

Alumni and friends are among Ohio University's greatest assets and our most valued constituents. Because of this, it is with regret that I inform you that Ohio University recently became aware of a system compromise that occurred on a computer system housing alumni and giving data.

The compromised system contained biographical information for more than 300,000 individuals and organizations, including the Social Security Numbers of more than 137,000 individuals. The data did not include credit card or bank information.

The record associated with the e-mail address to which this message was sent does contain a Social Security Number.

The breach dates to March 1, 2005 or prior but was not discovered until April 24, 2006. We know that during this period intruders had control of the system and uploaded and downloaded large quantities of data. Most importantly, the FBI currently is conducting an investigation.

We have created a Web site to answer questions you may have regarding this incident (visit www.ohio.edu and follow the link to our data theft Website). We also have designated a special, toll-free phone number (800.901.2303). Local callers may call 740.566.7448. We are happy to assist callers; however, to protect you, Ohio University will not give out personal information to individuals who call these numbers.

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In response to this attack, Ohio University is taking every precaution to protect the data on its live servers, including hiring an outside consultant to perform a comprehensive risk assessment of our entire environment to ensure that such a breach does not happen again.

As you may have seen in recent news headlines, computer intruders have targeted servers at several colleges and universities across the United States. The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Connecticut, Stanford University, Boston College, Iowa State University, California State University: all have experienced security breaches during the past 12 months.

Ohio University deeply regrets this breach of our data security. If you have concerns about your personal information, we will be happy to help you. Again, please contact us (800.901.2303) if you have any questions or concerns.

Cordially,

Molly Mayo Tampke
Interim Vice President, University Advancement