Alumni’s private data stolen

‘ ‘ ‘ A University-owned laptop containing the Social Security numbers of graduates from the… ‘ ‘ ‘ A University-owned laptop containing the Social Security numbers of graduates from the College of Business Administration was stolen last month, according to a letter sent to CBA alumni. ‘ ‘ ‘ The laptop, which was password-protected, contained alumni names, Social Security numbers and demographic information for CBA graduates from 1998 to 2006. ‘ ‘ ‘ The data was used to assist in career placement and for aggregate reporting, said the letter, which was signed by John T. Delaney, dean of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. ‘ ‘ ‘ The laptop was stolen from an employee’s office in Mervis Hall, which houses the School of Business. ‘ ‘ ‘ The employee notified Pitt police of the theft Aug. 11. About two weeks later, CBA sent the letter, dated Aug. 27, warning alumni of the incident. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We regret that an employee violated longstanding University policies on data collection and security by, among other things, maintaining Social Security numbers on the laptop computer. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you,’ the letter said. ‘ ‘ ‘ The letter then provided contact information to three credit bureaus and suggested alumni contact one to protect themselves from identity theft. ‘ ‘ ‘ It also suggested other precautions alumni could take, such as reading their account statements closely and looking for unexpected credit card statement in the mail. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The letter said that the Pitt police department is investigating the theft with the help of other law enforcement agencies. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We have found no evidence that your information has been accessed or misused. Nevertheless, we wanted to notify you, because data of this sort could be used for identity theft,’ said the letter. ‘ ‘ ‘ CBA alumna Tania Kempf, who graduated in 1998 and who received a copy of the letter in the mail, said that Pitt is not doing enough to protect its alumni. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘This isn’t really my problem, it’s the University’s problem,’ said Kempf. ‘They should pay for the credit monitoring service to keep an eye on our credit for any suspicious activity,’ she said. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We didn’t do anything wrong,’ said Kempf, ‘we just trusted them with our information.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt spokesperson John Fedele declined to comment for now but said the University will have a statement on the matter tomorrow.