|
||||||||||
|
- sign up on the Collusion Syndicate's infotainment discussion lists!!! - |
||||||||||
"We are doing everything it takes to get the data back and try to determine if it in any way has been used or disseminated," he said. Law enforcement officials were expected to obtain and execute search warrants late Wednesday in Austin and Houston at homes where computers may have been used in the cyberspace break-in. Updegrove said UT had not planned to inform the public of the story Wednesday until the Austin American-Statesman contacted the university. "We flat out messed up on this one," Updegrove said. "Shame on us for leaving the door open, and shame on them for exploiting it. Our Number 1 goal is to get those data back before they get misused." The incident comes at a time of growing concern about identity theft on college campuses. Many universities, including UT, use Social Security numbers as student identifiers, and the numbers are therefore found in many records. The ranks of current and former UT students, faculty and staff include hundreds of thousands of people. University officials were scrambling Wednesday to figure out how to advise those whose information was stolen. Some who are no longer affiliated with the university might no longer be reachable at the phone numbers and addresses on file. The theft was discovered Sunday evening by university computer systems employees performing routine maintenance, Updegrove said. They immediately disconnected the compromised database from the Internet, later hooking up a database of useless information. Computer logs indicate the information was taken by a computer in Austin on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week and by a computer in Houston on Saturday and Sunday, Updegrove said. He said the intrusions were likely done by the same person or persons, he added. He did not know whether the information stolen by the hackers had been used or disseminated for illegal purposes, such as opening bank accounts or obtaining credit cards. He said the hackers discovered a database used to track employees to gather the Social Security numbers and names. They used a program that matched Social Security numbers it generated with the names and Social Security numbers of current and former students. While the database should only have given information for employees in the database who would have completed special training, it offered access to a network of databases with the names and Social Security numbers of current and former students. "Somebody figured out this loophole in our security vulnerability," Updegrove said. "The program was built by my department, so I think I would have to say I am responsible." The thief or thieves used a computer program to query the UT database with 3 million potential Social Security numbers, resulting in about 59,000 hits, or successful matches, Updegrove said. The hackers also obtained e-mail addresses and, for some current faculty and staff members, office addresses and office phone numbers, Updegrove said. He said the university waited to tell the public because it did not want the hackers to know the university was aware of the theft. Updegrove defended the university's decision not to announce the theft right away. It took time to understand the dimensions of the theft, he said. The more urgent task is to track down the perpetrators and recover the data, Updegrove said. To that end, the university has reported the theft to the FBI, the Austin Police Department and other authorities.
Cox News Service contributed to this story. |
||||||||||