PortugueseData Breach News
Identity Theft Warning for U of Arizona Students
School lost data drive of students' personal infoFox News Phoenix
December 02, 2010
TUCSON - The University of Arizona says they've lost a computer hard drive containing information on thousands of students, and administrators are warning those students they could be at risk of having their identities stolen.
The hard drive contains data on more than 8,000 students enrolled between 1997 and 2008, and if it gets into the wrong hands, alumni could be big trouble. The missing hard drive has the names and social security numbers of thousands of former students.
Administrators sent a letter home to alumni warning them the university lost their personal information.
"We can't say
for sure that it was stolen, we can't say for sure that it's been accessed, so we don't know. We just don't know," says Dr.
Carol Thompson, Dean of Students.
The records were kept in a building on campus. This summer they were moved to another part of the campus. In October,
university officials realized the hard drive was missing.
"The files were always under supervision, the moves were always
under supervision, it's what we can't explain that's troubling to all of us."
More than 8,000 students could be affected -- anyone who went to U of A from 1997 to 2008.
Christopher Patmont graduated
from U of A in 2008. He now lives in Phoenix.
"Not too concerned. These things happened these type of people are going to get their information one way or another," says
Patmont.
The university is asking former students to be on the look out for any possible identity theft. They've tried to
send letters to every student affected, but the problem is, some of those students have moved away and don't have the same
address anymore.