TSU says student Social Security numbers have gone missing

University says 'more than 9,000' students' info disappeared earlier this week

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Tennessee State University this afternoon announced that a flash drive containing the financial information and Social Security numbers of more than 9,000 students was reported missing earlier this week.

A financial aid counselor reported the flash drive missing Tuesday morning after discovering that it was no longer in her possession, administrators said. The flash, which contained financial records of TSU students dating back to 2002, was last seen Monday evening.There have been no attempts to use the data.

In a prepared statement, TSU Provost Robert Hampton said, "The loss of this data is unfortunate. It is imperative that we protect our students' personal information. In this age, where the loss of data is becoming all too common, we want to assure our students and their parents that this breach will not occur again."

According to TSU officials, personnel began notifying students this week about the security breach. Those impacted will be sent notification from university personnel by next Friday. In the meantime, officials are urging students to look for signs of identity fraud and suggesting they place a fraud alert on their credit reports.

As a precautionary measure, TSU will offer credit protection to all students whose records were compromised. In addition, mandatory staff training on privacy and proper handling of information will be held for those employees who have access to sensitive student records.

University officials don't believe the missing flash drive was encrypted or password-protected, although TSU policy requires Social Security numbers be stored in protected data files. The school also no longer uses Social Security numbers as students' primary identification numbers.

The incident is under investigation by TSU's Department of Internal Audit. The employee has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.