University of Florida warns students and staff of security breach

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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The University of Florida is contacting more than 97,000 people after an intruder gained access to a computer system containing personal information.

According to an announcement by the university, which is one of the largest in North America, say that files potentially accessed by hackers included the names and social security numbers of students, faculty and staff who used computer systems between 1996 and 2009.

Users of the computer system were required to verify their identification with their University of Florida identity numbers, which in most cases were social security numbers.

Yes, I’m probably thinking what you’re thinking.. “Hello wall, say hello to my head hitting you.”

According to the University of Florida, they stopped using social security numbers as ID numbers in 2003.

It’s not yet known if hackers did manage to access the sensitive data, or whether it has been…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.