My SSN was exposed in a breach at Columbia—a school I have no connection with
Summary
Columbia University experienced a data breach last year that exposed sensitive information, including 1.8 million Social Security numbers. Some people affected, like the article's author, had no connection to Columbia, and the university struggled to explain how their data was collected and exposed.Key Facts
- The breach occurred in June and affected a large amount of personal data from Columbia students, applicants, and employees.
- Columbia’s public notices only mentioned victims connected to the university.
- The author received a letter six months after the breach notification, despite having no affiliation with Columbia.
- The letter offered free credit monitoring from a third-party company called Kroll Monitoring.
- Columbia officials later explained that data from unaffiliated people was stored due to decades of third-party data collection and failed removal efforts.
- One theory suggests the author’s Social Security number was gathered when taking the SAT in 2001, as SSNs were then commonly used as student IDs.
- Columbia’s victim support services offered limited help and slow responses to questions from unaffiliated victims.
- The breach led to confusion and concern for people outside the university due to unclear communication and data management.
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