Georgia Tech Computers Invaded by Hackers

Nearly, 3,000 current & former employees of Georgia Tech might have been robbed of their personal information including their names, addresses and other sensitive information. As, unknown sources from outside the university gained unauthorized access to a computer of Georgia Tech, reported Georgia Tech on February 21, 2007.

The school posted letters to its employees informing them about the entire incident. Most employees work with the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

At this moment we're not aware of any misuse, divulged Matt Nagel - the spokesman of the school - in a statement that ajc.com published on 22 February 2007. However, as a precaution, the school is contacting all those who're affected by this incident. Nagel said that the officials first got to learn about the breach on 13 February and were now investigating the information's scope.

Georgia Tech is encouraging its affected staff members to inform the appropriate credit-reporting firms that their personal information could've been compromised. The school has also altered the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The potential occurrence of the loss of confidential information is regretted, and the school intends to work with those who're affected by it. So, their exposure can be mitigated, divulged James Fetig - the associate VP with the Institute Communications & Public Affairs.

"Investigation is going on, and we express regret for any inconvenience caused due to this incident", said Fetig in a statement ajc.com published on 22 February 2007.

In another similar case, a PC containing the financial information of the students of Vanguard University & their parents was pilfered from the financial-aid office of the school in the last week of January this year.

The PC had downloaded the replicas of financial-aid applications from almost 5,105 current & prospective students of Vanguard.

UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) was compelled to post mails to 800,000 people informing them about the probable theft of their personal information. As, someone had hacked in to the database of the university.

Georgia Institute of Technology is amongst the premier research schools of the nation. It's ranked 8th among the top public-universities of US News and World Report. The school has about 17,000 students in its College of Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Architect, and Management & Sciences.

Related article: George Mason University Hit by Spam Mail

» SPAMfighter News - 3/2/2007