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A historic Ivy League school has disclosed a large-scale hack that affects nearly 900,000 of its students, applicants and employees.
According to a data breach notification with the Maine Attorney General’s Office, 868,969 people are affected by a hack at Columbia University after someone likely stole data from a limited portion of the school’s computer network.
In its initial statement, Columbia said that it had immediately begun an investigation into the incident with “leading cybersecurity experts,” and determined that an “unauthorized actor” unlawfully stole data, but that “no threat actor activity” was observed.
The breach occurred between May 16th and June 24th, but was not discovered by Columbia until July 8th.
In a new update on the data breach, Columbia discloses that the information stolen by hackers included the victims’ Social Security numbers, contact details, demographic records, academic histories, as well as financial aid-related information, insurance-related information and certain health information.
“Beginning August 7, we will begin notifying individuals, on a rolling basis, whose personal information may have been affected, via US Postal Service mail… Regardless of whether you are affected, we encourage all members of the University community to remain vigilant and continue to monitor your accounts for suspicious activity as you normally would.”
The university is now offering affected individuals two years of free credit monitoring, fraud consultation and identity theft restoration services through a vendor.
Columbia also says it has taken steps to harden its systems by implementing safeguards and enhanced protocols to prevent future incidents.
