Harvard grad students hit in computer intrusion

Computerworld - Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) is notifying about 10,000 people that their personal information may have been compromised as a result of a computer intrusion that was discovered in February.

About 6,600 of them are being offered one year's worth of free credit-monitoring services because their Social Security numbers were also compromised in the incident.

In a note posted on its Web site late Wednesday afternoon, the university said that the intrusion involved a server that contained information on individuals who had sought admission to the school for the academic year that began in fall 2007 as well as on those who had applied for student housing.

In addition to the Social Security numbers, the compromised server contained personal data such as each applicant's name, date of birth, address, e-mail address, phone numbers, test scores and school records.

The GSAS Web site described the hack as having been carried out by an outsider who had apparently compromised the system in a "way that data on the server could have been viewed or copied."

The hacked system was taken down from Feb. 17 to 21 while the breach was investigated. An initial investigation did not reveal the full extent of the hack, the statement said, but "as the investigation continued, it became apparent that some sensitive applicant data, including Social Security numbers, could potentially have been accessed."

The Harvard Crimson campus newspaper quoted university CIO Daniel Moriarty as saying that Harvard was still unsure whether the information contained in the hacked server had actually been accessed or illegally disseminated in the incident.

"We've basically decided to proceed as a conservative measure with notifying the individuals who have been impacted and lining up the [identity theft] services for those individuals," the paper quoted Moriarty as saying.

Margot Gill, administrative dean of the GSAS, apologized for the incident in the statement. Gill said that steps are being taken to prevent similar incidents in the future, but she didn't elaborate.

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