More than 35,000 Riverside Community College District (RCCD) students in California are being notified that their personal information – including Social Security numbers – was included in an email that was sent to the wrong external email address.
How many victims? 35,212, according to reports.
What type of personal information? Names, home addresses, phone numbers, student email addresses, birth dates, student identification numbers, enrolled classes, and Social Security numbers.
What happened? An email containing the student data was sent to the incorrect external email address.
What was the response? RCCD is reassessing and enhancing security measures, reviewing policies and procedures for safeguarding information, and educating staff on secure data handling. All impacted individuals are being notified and offered a free year of credit monitoring services.
Details: RCCD learned on June 2 that the email was sent on May 30. The data contained information on students enrolled in spring semester classes.
Quote: “At this time we don't know if the external email account is active, but be assured that we are implementing safeguards to help prevent anyone from using your data,” Irving Hendrick, interim chancellor at RCCD, wrote in the notification.
Source: oag.ca.gov, “Adult Notification Letter,” June 13, 2014.
