Stanford University disclosed a data breach after files containing Economics Ph.D. program admission information were downloaded from its website between December 2022 and January 2023.
The university has sent data breach notification letters to 897 individuals who submitted personal and health information as part of the graduate application to its Department of Economics, informing them that their info was accessed without authorization.
On January 24, 2023, Stanford was notified that a folder containing the 2022-23 application files for admission to Stanford’s Department of Economics’ Ph.D. program was available through the department’s website due to a misconfiguration of the folder’s settings.
Upon investigation it was revealed that the unrestricted access to the applications began on December 5, 2022, and that there were two downloads of the application materials between December 5, 2022, and January 24, 2023.
The information exposed in this breach includes application and accompanying materials, including names, dates of birth, home and mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, race and ethnicity, citizenship, and gender.
However, the incident does not involve programs at Stanford other than the PhD program in Economics. It also does not involve undergraduate applications to the university.
Some materials submitted during the Ph.D. application process also included applicants’ health information. Social Security Numbers and financial data were not exposed during the incident as the application files did not contain this type of data.
The university immediately blocked access to the files when it became aware of the accidental exposure. At the moment, the university said that it found no evidence that the downloaded information has been misused.
As a response to this incident, Stanford is updating the processes and policies related to electronic file storage security and will be retraining faculty and staff on the policies.
Image Credits : Encyclopedia Britannica
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