Negligence At MSU Exposes 9,100 Students to I.D. Theft
Administrators Apologize for "Inconvience" As Students Fear Identity Fraud
Jessica Havery
Issue date: 10/20/05 Section: News
Due to what Montclair State University officials are calling an "inadvertent error," the social security numbers of 9,100 Montclair State University students were made available online for nearly five months, putting each student at risk for identity theft and credit fraud.
The error, discovered last Wednesday by junior political science major, Brian Gatens, was identified when Gatens stumbled over the information database after running a search for his name on a Google search engine.
After making the discovery, and contacting Information Technology to report the issue, Gatens informed The Montclarion about the mishap. However, the paper decided to hold the story, originally meant to run on Oct. 13, in order to protect the confidential information of the students at risk.
In response to Gaten's report, Jeff Giacobbe, director of Information Technology Networks, Telecommunications, Systems and Security, said that the information had been gathered by a University employee who had been authorized to do so.
"This person inadvertently posted the files to an area of the campus web server that was subsequently read and 'cached' by the Google search engine," Giacobbe said.
The employee, whose name has not been released by the University, placed the files onto the server so that the information could be retrieved by other University employees, who also had authorization to view the documents.
According to Giacobbe, the individual failed to realize that, by placing the files in that location, the information was also visible to other parties, including internet search engines.
While other media outlets have reported that the individual responsible made a mistake and would not be punished, Vice President of Student Development and Campus Life, Karen Pennington, said that the matter was still under a full investigation.
When Gatens contacted Giacobbe about his findings, he was informed that the process of having the files removed from the Google search engine normally takes three to five business days. The University, in an effort to expedite the process, contacted the State Attorney General's office, which assisted with the removal of all files.
The error, discovered last Wednesday by junior political science major, Brian Gatens, was identified when Gatens stumbled over the information database after running a search for his name on a Google search engine.
After making the discovery, and contacting Information Technology to report the issue, Gatens informed The Montclarion about the mishap. However, the paper decided to hold the story, originally meant to run on Oct. 13, in order to protect the confidential information of the students at risk.
In response to Gaten's report, Jeff Giacobbe, director of Information Technology Networks, Telecommunications, Systems and Security, said that the information had been gathered by a University employee who had been authorized to do so.
"This person inadvertently posted the files to an area of the campus web server that was subsequently read and 'cached' by the Google search engine," Giacobbe said.
The employee, whose name has not been released by the University, placed the files onto the server so that the information could be retrieved by other University employees, who also had authorization to view the documents.
According to Giacobbe, the individual failed to realize that, by placing the files in that location, the information was also visible to other parties, including internet search engines.
While other media outlets have reported that the individual responsible made a mistake and would not be punished, Vice President of Student Development and Campus Life, Karen Pennington, said that the matter was still under a full investigation.
When Gatens contacted Giacobbe about his findings, he was informed that the process of having the files removed from the Google search engine normally takes three to five business days. The University, in an effort to expedite the process, contacted the State Attorney General's office, which assisted with the removal of all files.