Northwestern Univ. hit by third data breach since '05

Social Security numbers of about 4,000 people may have been exposed

By Jaikumar Vijayan

June 7, 2007 12:00 PM ET

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For the third time in just over two years, Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., has reported a security breach involving sensitive data.

The latest warning follows the discovery of a security breach on June 1 involving a computer in the university's Integrated Graduate Program in Life Sciences. Personal information, including Social Security numbers belonging to about 4,000 people who had applied to or attended the program from 1991 to 2007, was potentially exposed in the breach, according to a brief statement posted on the university's Web site.

The affected system was immediately taken offline, the school said.

A university spokesman did not offer details about the breach or what might have caused it, saying they would be made available later.

This is the second recent incident in the last month at the university involving the potential compromise of sensitive data belonging to students and staff. In May, a laptop containing Social Security numbers and other confidential data on an undisclosed number of alumni was stolen from Northwestern's financial aid office in Chicago.

In March 2005, a security breach at the university's Kellogg School of Management resulted in the potential compromise of user IDs and passwords belonging to about 3,500 students and staff. The breach, which involved a server at the Kellogg School, also prompted the university to create new passwords for approximately 18,000 alumni whose passwords were also potentially compromised.

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