UT: College puts private info on Net

[MKEVHILL () aol com]

_http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,690192561,00.html_ 
(http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,690192561,00.html) 
 
Barb, who asked that her last name not be used, frequently types her name  
into a search engine on the Internet to see where it might show up. It's one way 
 to safeguard against identity theft.
What she found  earlier this month shocked her.
Barb, a Westminster  College alumna, found her name and the names of about 
100 other students, former  and current, printed in two files along with each 
student's Social Security  number.
"It was very alarming," she said.
The files were on a student Web server used by Westminster  students. The 
server is provided as a service by the college mostly for students  to store 
items such as class projects.
When Westminster  was made aware of the situation, school executive director 
of communications  Laura Murphy said the files were removed immediately.

The college says it has taken several steps to remedy the situation and to  
determine what happened so there's no chance of a repeat.
Although the investigation was still continuing Saturday, Murphy said it  
appeared initially the posting of the Social Security numbers was the result of  
someone's innocent mistake. She also noted the files were not in an area 
easily  accessible by non-students, she said.
However, she said  the situation was being taken seriously.
"We regret any  inconvenience this may cause. We will do our best to make 
sure that information  is safe-guarded," she said. "It's information that needs 
to be held in  trust."
Murphy did not know how long that information  may have been posted.
Furthermore, she said all of the  students on the list had been contacted and 
Westminster had agreed to pay for  credit monitoring to make sure no one 
obtained critical personal information and  was trying to use it.
As of Saturday there had been no  reports of any of the information from the 
students on that list being  compromised.
 
 
Mike



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