University of Virginia Breaches 7,000 after laptop theft

Who Breached: University of Virginia (UVa)
Number Affected: 7,000
Information breached: Social Security Numbers
How: laptop theft

Daily Progress is reporting that the University of Virginia (UVa) has breached the information of 7,000 students, staff and faculty members as the result of a laptop theft. The laptop contained personally identifiable information including names and Social Security Numbers.

The laptop was stolen from an employee at an “undisclosed location” off-campus in Albemarle County. Carol Wood, UVa spokeswoman, said that letters have been mailed to those affected by the data breach.

Students have been expressing their concern and frustration that their personal data would be left on an unsecured laptop despite the myriad of data breaches caused by such negligence.

The University of Virginia experienced a data breach in June, 2007 that was the result of a hacker accessing 5,735 faculty records over a two-year period. The University claims that the use of Social Security Numbers as a personal identification number was being phased out. Obviously, not soon enough.

Other notable data breaches this week:

• Joliet West High School hacked, breaches data for “about every student”
• New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center finds 40,000 person breach in audit, likely stolen by an employee

hat tip to Attrition.org ; Tags: laptop theft, laptop security, data breach, breach, security breach, education breach, identity theft, id theft, breach notification