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California university reports data hack

CSU-Chico has informed more than 59,000 people that their personal data may have been compromised in an attack on the school's servers.

Matt Hines Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Matt Hines
covers business software, with a particular focus on enterprise applications.
Matt Hines

California State University, Chico, has informed more than 59,000 people that their personal information may have been compromised in an attack on the school's servers earlier this week. Stored on the hacked system were the records of a wide range of people with various ties to the university, including current, former and prospective students, as well as current and former faculty and staff. The school said the vast majority of the records involved belonged to students who began attending its classes within the past five years.

The school contends that there is no evidence that hackers targeted the server with the intent of stealing the personal data, which included names and Social Security numbers, but it has already informed individuals effected by the incident via e-mail and postal mail. The university has pledged to discontinue the use of Social Security numbers in its student and employee identification systems in the future.