Oops! UF posts sensitive student data online

Call it a belated "Oops!"

It seems UF officials starting in 2003 posted online -- in a way that the general public might have accessed -- the names, address and Social Security numbers for more than 11,300 current and former students.

UF administrators just notified most of the students, after discovering the messup recently during a routine audit of the university's computer and data systems. There are 570 students they could not find but are still looking for.

Apparently, former student employees of the Office for Academic Support and Institutional Service, or OASIS, created online records of students participating in the program. The student employees posted the information online so that they could work with it from remote locations, but they did not put in security measures to keep others from accessing the data.

Anyone who believes their information may have been compromised can call UF's Privacy Office Hotline at 866-876-HIPA and provide the requested information.

Comments

[Patrick]

Somewhere in Gainesville an IT Supervisor just lost his job.

[Concerned SP College Student]

St. Pete College does a similar thing in the Tampa Bay area. I can provide archived data from 2001 forward, the current URL, and relevant FERPA guidelines. Were your sons' or daughters' data exposed in this way I believe you would be livid. I don't think freshman aged students are as sensitive to the danger. Their parents probably don't even know.

[Jon]

How routine could the audit have been if the leak started in 2003?

[cg]

I'm sure they audit every five years.

[Timmy!]

We put entirely too much data on line, too much faith in student (minimum wage) employees, and too little oversight.

They should fire more than just an IT supervisor. The conductor isn't fired when the train crashes.

[David]

It seems like long time because this has already been posted several times over the last couple of years. I know because I got contacted as possibly having my ssn posted on the Net a couple years ago. Get some new news.

[JD]

This is true...I've already read about this very same issue at UF in the past. Wierd the paper keeps printing the same story.

[Rodger]

This is getting to be the motto all across florida. oop's we wont let that happen again, today.

[Overrated]

Wow UF, you all really need to clean up your act. Between your disrespectful uppity sorority and fraternity social at our fine Tampa restaurant, the Columbia. To the use of credit cards of dead people by your "world class" athletes. To your disgraceful sports alumnus doing stupid things. To this. Your school is so prideful and so full of yourself it is disgusting. Your kids should stop trying to act like they are going to Yale. Your school has been around forever and did get the most funding for years from the state, so there was no excuse for your programs to not excel. Continue to chomp your arms and rely on the fact that you went to UF. No one cares where you went to school and a work ethic is all that counts. Most jobs don't even confirm you ever even went to college. Clean up your act UF. You are embarrassing my fine state.

[UF Alumnus]

Overrated, you are a joke. Just admit you went to a rival school and quit acting like you're so outraged by this. Grow up.

[criminole]

I think FSU could top g-ville's athlete:criminal ratio easily. Also, MOST sorority girls are stuck up and nearly all frat guys are a little douche-baggish. It's the nature of the beast, calm down Overrated. Tampa is for fruit pickers anyways!

[cg]

Oh, forgot that FL education matters are all about sports fans. Go team!

[JT]

I don't think there is a school in country that can compete with UF's athlete: criminal ratio, including FSU. UF has had 12-14 football players arrested in the past 12-18 months while FSU has had 2-3.

[yg]

"UF has had 12-14 football players arrested in the past 12-18 months while FSU has had 2-3."
That's because 80% of the FSU team have already been suspended...

[Chuck Paugh]

Colleges give out this information freely on campuses nationwide. Ever check the bulletin boards for exam results? Many schools list them by your school ID number which in many cases is: your social security number. Heck, look at our soldiers, all their gear is tagged with their social security numbers too. We really need to resolve when, how, and where such numbers can and cannot be used before we even consider a national ID program with a national ID number.