Oregon State University breach exposed student, family data

From zdnet.com

Oregon State University (OSU) has revealed a recent data breach which may have exposed information belonging to students and their families.

The US university said last week that 636 student records and family records containing Personally identifiable information (PII) have potentially been placed at risk due to a security incident which took place in May.

OSU has not revealed what PII was involved, but in general terms, PII can include names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and more. Financial records are not generally considered an aspect of PII in data leaks.

The Corvallis Advocate, however, reports that “names, birthdates, and Social Security numbers of both current and prospective students as well as their family members” may have been exposed.

A successful phishing campaign has been blamed, in which an OSU employee fell prey to a scheme which compromised their email account. The staff member in question had stored the records in their email inbox.

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