The freshman veterinary class at University of California (Davis) will have something in common. Every one of that class will have had his/her personal information compromised:

“On June 15, the university determined that its computer-security safeguards had been breached and someone had gained access to the personal information of an estimated 1,120 applicants to the School of Veterinary Medicine for the 2007-2008 school year, including 131 accepted students. The hacker had accessed information including the applicants’ names, birth dates and, in most cases, Social Security numbers.”

link: Criminal Probe Launched Into Computer Hacking of Vet School Admissions Info

UC Davis will cover the costs of credit monitoring for one year. - It is interesting to note that these data breaches are becoming so common place that it now receives far less press coverage than it did just a year ago. A large security failure like the Ohio incident receives significant press coverage. However, a breach of a university computer is no longer a major news item. Perhaps it is just a sign of the times…

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]data breach, privacy, security, identity theft, uc davis, hackers, school of veterinary medicine, credit monitoring[/tags]