Queens University Bulk Email Contains Personal Information on 623
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
9/17/07
Organization:
Queens University of Charlotte
Contractor/Consultant:
None
Victims:
University students
Number Affected:
623
Types of Data:
Name, address, telephone number and Social Security number.
Breach Description:
A Queens University of Charlotte employee sent an email to alert students of a new financial aid opportunity and inadvertently attached a file containing sensitive information on all students.
Reference URL:
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-091707-jmn-queens_emails.e20c08d2.html
Report Credit:
Mario Roldan, WCNC
Response:
From the online resource mentioned above:
"In an attempt to tell 623 students about a financial aid opportunity, a university employee accidentally sent an e-mail with all the students’ addresses, telephone and Social Security numbers."
"We are very sorry and obviously we've done everything we can to protect it from happening again,” said Brian Ralph, vice president for enrollment management.
"Ralph said the university has changed its procedures to prevent private files from being attached to e-mail."
[Comfyllama] Do you think that they didn't have these procedures in place to begin with and do you think that procedures will prevent mistakes? Maybe.
"The good news is this wasn't a situation where somebody broke into our computer information or anything like that,” said Ralph. “It was simply human error.”
[Comfyllama] This is "good news"?
Queens University is offering one year of credit monitoring free of charge to affected students.
[Comfyllama] One year seems pretty standard. The credit bureaus make more money, and the year passes without incident. Then what?
Victim Response:
"I really thought it was a joke, but when I opened the file there was all that information," said nursing student Caroline Boatright.
“It’s ridiculously frustrating,” she said. “There's nothing I can do except, I’ve done – well, I’ve done all I can do."
“You speak to someone that verifies there's been a fraud alert put on your account so that if any new accounts are open, if there's any suspicious activity, then they can alert you and let you know what's going on," said Boatright.
Commentary:
Although students get a free year of fraud and credit protection, something has to be said for the "frustration" that these breaches put on the victims.
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Date Reported:
9/17/07Organization:
Queens University of Charlotte
Contractor/Consultant:
None
Victims:
University students
Number Affected:
623
Types of Data:
Name, address, telephone number and Social Security number.
Breach Description:
A Queens University of Charlotte employee sent an email to alert students of a new financial aid opportunity and inadvertently attached a file containing sensitive information on all students.
Reference URL:
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-091707-jmn-queens_emails.e20c08d2.html
Report Credit:
Mario Roldan, WCNC
Response:
From the online resource mentioned above:
"In an attempt to tell 623 students about a financial aid opportunity, a university employee accidentally sent an e-mail with all the students’ addresses, telephone and Social Security numbers."
"We are very sorry and obviously we've done everything we can to protect it from happening again,” said Brian Ralph, vice president for enrollment management.
"Ralph said the university has changed its procedures to prevent private files from being attached to e-mail."
[Comfyllama] Do you think that they didn't have these procedures in place to begin with and do you think that procedures will prevent mistakes? Maybe.
"The good news is this wasn't a situation where somebody broke into our computer information or anything like that,” said Ralph. “It was simply human error.”
[Comfyllama] This is "good news"?
Queens University is offering one year of credit monitoring free of charge to affected students.
[Comfyllama] One year seems pretty standard. The credit bureaus make more money, and the year passes without incident. Then what?
Victim Response:
"I really thought it was a joke, but when I opened the file there was all that information," said nursing student Caroline Boatright.
“It’s ridiculously frustrating,” she said. “There's nothing I can do except, I’ve done – well, I’ve done all I can do."
“You speak to someone that verifies there's been a fraud alert put on your account so that if any new accounts are open, if there's any suspicious activity, then they can alert you and let you know what's going on," said Boatright.
Commentary:
Although students get a free year of fraud and credit protection, something has to be said for the "frustration" that these breaches put on the victims.
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Posted by Evan Francen at 9/17/2007 6:49 PM 
Categories: Employee Mistake, Queens University of Charlotte
Categories: Employee Mistake, Queens University of Charlotte
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