Smiley Face Emoticon Triggers FIU Data Scare

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Smiley-Face-Emoticon-Triggers-FIU-Security-Scare-130597908.html

Smiley Face Emoticon Triggers FIU Data Scare
Personal information for 19,500 current and former students may have been 
accessed by hackers, university informs in letters
By Steve Litz
Monday, Sep 26, 2011

Thousands of students at Florida International University are hoping their 
personal information is not used against them after being informed of a 
possible security breach of the university's computer system.

An undergraduate education database containing 19,500 current and former 
students' names, social security numbers, birth dates, and grade point 
averages was discovered to be unsecured when university officials found 
someone had typed a smiley face emoticon on the database's internal 
website.

Students and alumni who took the College-Level Academic Skills Test and 
other standardized exams during a multi-year period were informed in 
letters that their personal details may have been "inappropriately 
accessed."

[..]

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