Physics Department Server Breach

Physics Department Server Breach

The University’s Privacy Office was notified of a privacy breach which occurred on May 2, 2002, and was discovered on March 17, 2011. Specifically, the Physics Department server was hosting files that contained former students’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII).  UF information technicians discovered the web-accessible file during a routine security check.  Some of these files were publicly accessible in Google and the information disclosed included student names, social security numbers and grades.

When these files were created, it was standard to use Social Security numbers to identify students.  As of 2003, that practice is longer used as an identifier for student academic records; faculty and staff use only secured protocols to store student data.  All files containing PII have been removed from the server and can no longer be accessed via Google.

Documents

• Copy of letter by UF officials (PDF, 104 KB)
• Identity Theft Brochure (PDF, 1.08 MB)