Information Security News mailing list archives
Re: Stolen UC Berkeley Laptop Exposes Personal Data of Nearly 100,000
From: InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 00:36:35 -0600 (CST)
Forwarded from: Mark Bernard <Mark.Bernard () TechSecure ca> Dear Associates, I'm sorry but Universities and Colleges aren't very good gages on the growth of identity theft. The incident is more likely to be a measure of stupidity. These institutions are high risk for attacks because they need to be open to share information, so I wouldn't even consider it a good measure of some student hacker's skills. I hope that whoever perpetrated this crime doesn't think that s/he's accomplished something. What I would like to see is students take more responsibility and control over their private information. I know the thought that the words 'student' and 'responsibility' are in the same sentence doesn't make sense to some of us. I also think that student bodies need to step up to the plate here and show some leadership by helping their constituency protect themselves. Best regards, Mark. Mark E. S. Bernard, CISM, CISSP, PM, Principal, Risk Management Services, e-mail: Mark.Bernard () TechSecure ca Web: http://www.TechSecure.ca Phone: (506) 325-0444 Leadership Quotes by John Quincy Adams: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." ----- Original Message ----- From: "InfoSec News" <isn () c4i org> To: <isn () attrition org> Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 8:54 AM Subject: [ISN] Stolen UC Berkeley Laptop Exposes Personal Data of Nearly 100,000
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7653-2005Mar28.html By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Business Writer March 28, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A thief has stolen a computer laptop containing personal information about nearly 100,000 University of California, Berkeley alumni, graduate students and past applicants, continuing a recent outbreak of security breakdowns that has illustrated society's growing vulnerability to identity theft. University officials announced the March 11 theft on Monday under a state law requiring that consumers be notified whenever their Social Security numbers or other sensitive information has been breached. Notifying all of the 98,369 people affected by the UC Berkeley laptop theft could prove difficult because some of the students received their doctorate degrees nearly 30 years ago, university officials said. The laptop -- stolen from a restricted area of a campus office -- contained the Social Security numbers of UC Berkeley students who received their doctorates from 1976 through 1999, graduate students enrolled at the university between fall 1989 and fall 2003 and graduate school applicants between fall 2001 and spring 2004. Some graduate students in other years also were affected. The stolen computer files also included the birth dates and addresses of about one-third of the affected people.
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