Data breach at Georgia Tech might have exposed personal information of 1.3 million individuals

• Hackers may have stolen sensitive information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers and birth dates from the systems.
• The school learned about the hack in late March and took necessary measures to bolster the security immediately.

A potential data breach at Georgia Tech, the renowned university, might have resulted in the compromise of personal information of 1.3 million students and staff members. Officials say that those affected in the breach includes some current and former faculty, students, staff and student applications.

What happened - The university revealed that the information was exposed after unauthorized persons gained access to a web application. Although the institute is yet to assess the extent and impact of the attack, it is believed that the hackers may have stolen sensitive information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers and birth dates from the systems.

What has been done till now - The school learned about the hack in late March and took preventive measures immediately. It is working at addressing the vulnerability. In addition, it has notified the US Department of Education and University System of Georgia about the breach.

The university has informed the students about the breach over an email. Meanwhile, its cybersecurity team is conducting a thorough forensic investigation.

The organization will also be contacting the potentially affected students and staff members to inform them about the available credit monitoring services.

How can the stolen data be used - VerSprite cybersecurity consultant Tony Ucedavelez explained that the personal data of an elite school like Georgia Tech is particularly valuable as it can be used for identity theft.

“Their relationships with different technology companies worldwide, as well as with the federal government makes them much more unique. It’s really about getting as much data as possible in being able for the bad guys to do their own data analytics to see where they want to focus in on targeted attacks,” said Ucedavelez, WSB-TV reported.