2008-2011 SSN cyber attacks strikes back to Higher Education

In 2008, hackers proceeded with stealing data with renewed vigor. While the target remained almost the same, hackers shifted their focus on stealing personal data, and the maximum size of data breach rose from 70,000 records to 700,000 records. 

A malefactor compromised the system of Antioch University three times and got access to about 70,000 records in 2008. The stolen data contained names, Social Security numbers, academic records and payroll documents for current and former students, applicants and employees. Approximately the same number of records leaked in a breach at Oklahoma State University. The compromised computer server stored names, addresses and Social Security numbers of students and staff. 

In 2009, Eastern Washington University informed 130,000 current and former students that their names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth were presumably compromised in a breach. The incident is notable due to the fact that the compromised records date back even to 1987, so that the notification process took up to two weeks. IT-staff of the university also noticed that the malefactor installed software to store video files on the system. 

Ohio State University officials disclosed a data leakage in October 2010. Unauthorized individuals stole some 760,000 names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses of current and former students, faculty, staff members, and university contractors. Later on, it was specified that 517,729 former students and 65,663 current students’ records were compromised. Exact numbers of other affected were not given. Ohio State University took about a month in 2010 to disclose that some 760,000 people had their data exposed and were at risk of identity theft. 

While the vast majority of attacks target personal and financial data of students and employees, that is not an inviolable truth for all the cases. In May 2011, University of Wisconsin experiences a virus that was installed on a University server and housed a software system for managing confidential information. Critical data of 75,000 students, faculty and staff was exposed. Despite the data leakage, experts presumed that the attack was originally aiming to get access to the projects run by the university. “Talking to the forensic experts, we don’t believe the motive was identity theft,” commented Tom Luljak, UWM’s vice chancellor for university relations.