On March 27, technicians at UCSF noticed suspicious activity on a remote server located at the University of California Office of the President. The server, which contained sensitive data for about 46,000 UCSF faculty members, staff and students, was operating slower than usual, and a hacker was determined to be running a program on the server. On April 4, UCSF's Office of Academic & Administrative Information (OAAIS) began notifying everyone whose information was on the affected server, and set up a security breach website and hotline.
San Francisco Chronicle business reporter David Lazarus writes that there's no evidence to date that any personal information on the server was compromised, but notes that the information was not encrypted. This security breach highlights yet again the vulnerability of people's personal data and how we're all seemingly only a few keystrokes from having our identities stolen or bank accounts defrauded.
Related Links:
Security Breached at UCSF
San Francisco Chronicle, April 15, 2007
UCSF Establishes Identity Theft Website, Hotline
UCSF Today, April 4, 2007
UCSF Reports Possible Compromise in Computer Security
UCSF News Release, April 4, 2007
March 2007 Security Breach Information
UCSF Office of Academic & Administrative Information
