Security Breach at Housatonic Community College

Up to 87,000 records of confidential faculty, staff and student data might be affected.

A security breach at Housatonic Community College might have exposed up to 87,000 records of confidential faculty, staff and student data, including Social Security numbers.

The school issued a news release on Thursday afternoon warning that two computers at the college became infected with “zero-day malware,” which could potentially allow unauthorized access to files that contain names, addresses and dates of birth.

The malware was discovered during routine nightly scans and the school removed the infected computers and sent them to the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system office in Hartford for forensic analysis.

That testing determined that the potentially exposed files contained confidential information.

The school is offering people whose records were potentially exposed identity theft protection for two years at HCC’s expense.

The school will also notify affected individuals in writing.

“We apologize for the inconvenience and concern that this has caused the people affected by the breach,” HCC President Anita Gliniecki said. “We take the protection of personal information very seriously and are taking steps to prevent future occurrences though a combination of new technical and operational controls.”

For more information, visit the Webpage the school has set up on security.  www.housatonic.edu/security.

 

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