Ohio State Experiences Most Costly College Data Breach
COLUMBUS, Ohio — 760,000 names and Social Security numbers belonging to Ohio State University (OSU) students, employees and business associates were exposed in late October when a university server was hacked. OSU expects to spend close to $4 million on a forensic investigation and 12 months worth of credit-protection services for those affected.
The data breach, which is the largest and most costly to ever hit a college campus, was discovered in late October during a routine computer security review, The Columbus Dispatch reports. University officials began notifying persons affected by the breach on Dec. 15.
OSU hired Interhack and cyberforensic consultants Stroz Freidberg to investigate the incident. Neither firm found evidence that the personal data on the servers had been accessed. Instead, there were signs that the hackers were using the server to launch cyberattcks on businesses.
The university has investigated an average of 10 potential data breaches each year for the past three years, but typically there have been few actual data breaches.
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