Mississippi State University officials sent letters to 2,400 students and employees in early December to warn them that they may be at risk of identity theft.Despite the university’s efforts to decrease the likelihood of identity theft among students and employees, 2,400 Social Security numbers and other information were posted on a Web site linked to a school Web server.
The problem was discovered when a university employee did a netID search and discovered his information on the server. Officials said they removed the information as soon as it was discovered.
Jerry Gilbert, associate provost of academic affairs, said he is not pointing any fingers at any person or department that is responsible for the incident.
“Our emphasis has been on reacting to secure files so the likelihood of this happening again would be greatly reduced,” Gilbert said.
In an effort to assist the students and employees affected, the university is providing them with a one-year enrollment in a watchdog program provided by Equifax, a credit monitoring agency.
The university has not received any reports of identities that may have been compromised as a result of the incident thus far. Two reports of identity theft have been made recently but were not associated with the university.
In an effort to protect the identities of students and personnel, Mississippi State initiated a program in 2006 utilizing special student ID numbers and swipe cards. About 20,000 new IDs have been issued to students, faculty and staff that contain the numbers instead of Social Security numbers.
“We have been working very hard to stay away from using Social Security numbers to identify students,” said university spokeswoman Maridith Geuder.
The problem of identity theft is not only a campus issue, but an increasing problem throughout Starkville.
“In the past few years identity theft has become more and more prevalent,” said Starkville police detective Moultrie Lacey.
He said that college students usually have more information open to public eyes, and they are very easy to take advantage of.
“Students often open up tabs at bars, leaving their information accessible to bartenders and other employees,” Lacey said.
Lacey suggests always going over bank statements, keeping up with receipts and reporting any discrepancies immediately to authorities.
“Identity theft is difficult to prevent, but it can be stopped in early stages if people report it on time,” he said.