Bozeman, MT – Montana State University recently notified students and faculty regarding an incident where certain workers’ compensation and student loan documents were left unencrypted and available on MSU’s network for a six-week period.
After conducting a thorough investigation, MSU does not believe anyone viewed the documents as the information could only be accessed from MSU’s network by a user with specialized knowledge.
While MSU has no reason to believe anyone viewed or accessed the information, out of an abundance of caution, MSU began sending letters to affected individuals on December 21, 2012. MSU is also providing a dedicated call center for affected individuals and offering eligible individuals, at no cost to them, a year of credit monitoring.
The information involved included certain loan documents of some students who attended MSU in 2006 and workers compensation documents regarding employees. The information affected includes names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. No financial or bank account information was involved. This incident affected only a limited number of students and employees.
“We do not believe that any of the information was improperly used or even viewed, however, as a precautionary measure, we are making this notification and offering eligible individuals one year of credit monitoring and assistance in identity theft protection,” said Dewitt Latimer, MSU’s chief information officer.
MSU has reviewed its security and is taking steps to help prevent future incidents.
Source: MSU