Last week, the Virginia Commonwealth University has sent letters to 17.214 students and alumni informing them that their names, social security numbers and test results may have been exposed when a computer was stolen from the school library. VCU offer those affected a year of identity theft insurance. Another 22,500 students were informed that their names and test results, not their social security numbers, were also compromised. VCU students identified by their social security numbers until January 2007 but now uses the ID numbers of students computer generated instead.
This violation calls attention to two areas of vulnerability to keep its own identity. When universities and other organizations rely on social security numbers for identification, social security numbers are often stored in databases that are not secured properly. This puts countless people at greater risk of identity theft. Stolen computers are also a common source of data breaches and identity theft. NextAdvisor.com our guide, How to deal with a lost or stolen laptop, details some of the ways you can prevent or minimize the costs and risks associated with the missing computers.
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