The Second Data Breach at Columbia University

August 12, 2008 – 1:36 pm

Students at Columbia University have recently been informed of the school’s second major data breach this year. The social security numbers of over 5,000 students were stored online in a database that absolutely anyone could access. This database was set up so anyone in the world could search the data and easily pull up results. These identities were left floating around the internet for over 16 months before the breach was discovered. When the university was notified of this, they had Google take down the website for them and assumed the data breach was taken care of.

The next day, over 200 students reported that their personal information was still available online. A petition was started to threaten the university with criminal investigations and attempt to spark some interest in the security of this crucial information. While the university does not seem to have taken any steps whatsoever to tighten up their security, they have signed up all affected individuals for identity theft protection services. As ignorant as the university’s actions may seem, this was a very wise move. It is nearly impossible to truly protect your identity and keep it out of the hands of identity thieves. The only real solution is to make your personal information useless to them with identity theft protection, such as LifeLock.

LifeLock identity theft protection works to protect the identity of individuals regardless of whether their identity has been compromised or not. Todd Davis, the CEO of Life lock, has advertised his social security number* in front of the whole world for years. Thousands of identity theft attempts were thwarted by LifeLock. Even when someone finally managed to take out a $500 emergency loan in his name, LifeLock immediately reimbursed him the full amount and restored his identity. He remained fully protected even with his personal information deliberately placed in the hands of identity thieves around the world. This same service is available to anyone for very reasonable rates.

*Never share your Social Security number unnecessarily.

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