UC Davis Suffers Unauthorized Access to its Computerized Records

A veterinary medical school of the University of California has apparently suffered hacking and misappropriation of its computerized admission records. The University of California and Davis Police Department are working together with the Sacramento Valley High Tech Crimes Task Force to investigate the crime.

The university discovered the computer breach on June 15, 2007. It determined that someone made an unauthorized access to personal data of about 1,120 applicants to the Davis School of Veterinary Medicine for the year 2007-08. The applicants' information included their names, date of birth, and Social Security numbers.

The breach came to light when 131 accepted students to the Davis graduate school were trying to establish campus computer accounts but were informed that the accounts were already prepared.

Officials said the damage was at that so far. Although there is no report of misuse of any candidate's Social Security number, the threat of identity theft lingers.

Dean Bennie Osburn of the School of veterinary medicine said the school in cooperation with law enforcement was trying to determine the penetration process into the campus computer and the people behind the crime. UCDAVIS reported this on June 27 2007. Mr. Osburn expressed deep regret for the incident and said the school was notifying all those affected. The school would also protect them from any illegal use of their stored information.

Osburn further said the campus was serious about keeping the students' and applicants' personal information secured and would take all necessary steps towards that.

On June 27, 2007, Osburn dispatched letters and e-mails to the students and applicants affected by the breach, asking them to be alert for future possible problems. Osburn advised them to report to law enforcement, banks, credit card companies and the three major bureaus to issue a fraud warning on their accounts and evaluate their credit reports from time to time.

Earlier in December 2007 the University of California, Los Angeles had been informing around 800,000 people whose personal information was unlawfully accessed from a campus computer. The university found that the hacker had illegally retrieved the Social Security numbers of 28,600 students and former employees.

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» SPAMfighter News - 7/7/2007