JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --
The University of North Florida has notified thousands of students that may have had their names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth compromised due to a data breach on a university computer server.
The computer involved in this incident has been secured and precautions have been taken to minimize future data risks.
Officials said a computer file containing the personal information of high school and college students and others who expressed an interest in UNF may have been accessed by someone outside the United States between Sept. 24 and 29. They said It is possible the intruder’s intent was to either disrupt normal business or use the computer's processing power to launch similar attacks on other computers.
Te University Police Department is working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine the cause and intent of the breach.
While immediate steps were taken to contain the breach and to prevent further unauthorized access, the university has sent letters and e-mails to the people affected by the breach.
A total of 106,884 people could have been affected by this data breach. Of those, 52,853 had their names and Social Security numbers compromised and 54,031 had their names and dates of birth compromised. The intruder did not access students’ academic or financial aid information. Grades, financial aid history, course history and academic records were not at risk.
UNF has posted information on its website explaining what happened, when it happened, what actions have been taken by the university and precautions those potentially affected may take to safeguard their personal information, as well as actions to take in the event of any suspicious activity on their accounts.
UNF has also set up a phone number, 904-620-2114, and an e-mail account, [email protected] , for questions concerning the data breach.
The university recommends that those who may have been affected place a fraud alert on their credit files with one of the three credit bureaus, Equifax , Experian or Trans-Union.
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