Seven Idaho Colleges Suffer Breaches: Students and Staff Impacted

Idaho is home to many popular universities that serve millions of students annually. Seven of the schools in Idaho were recently impacted by a data breach that resulted in a substantial amount of lost information. The vulnerable parties state that they're secure now, but a significant amount of data has already been lost to the attackers. Learn more about the stolen data and the schools involved in this attack. 

How Did the Attack Occur?

Seven different Idaho Universities were all breached at the same time thanks to vulnerabilities in two separate third-party service providers that they rely on. Schools, including the University of Idaho, North Idaho College, Lewis-Clark State College, Boise State University, the College of Western Idaho, and the College of Southern Idaho, were all impacted. The two third-party services the schools are connected to include the National Student Clearinghouse, which is likely to impact students themselves, and the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association of America, which could put teachers at risk. 

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?

The data taken from the Idaho schools include things like Social Security Numbers, full names, home addresses, birth dates, and more. This data could be used to launch a credit theft attack and do harm to the students involved in this breach. 

How Did the Student Organizations Admit to the Breach?

We don't know if either of the two student organizations involved in this breach released any sort of official notice about the breach. The Idaho State Board of Education put out a press release letting students and faculty know about the breach issue and what information could have been released in the breach. The Teachers Insurance Annuity Association of America also remarked that individuals involved in the breach would receive letters giving them exact details about what data was shared and also a way to claim free credit monitoring services for the next two years. 

What Will Become of the Stolen Information?

We suspect the information stolen from teachers and students at the many Idaho schools involved will suffer from identity theft attacks and phishing attacks. The hackers are likely trying to find ways to profit from the stolen information, and that means exploiting it to open fraudulent accounts and lines of credit. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?

Anyone involved in this breach should receive a notice explaining what happened and how much of their information is at risk. In that same letter, there should also be a notice explaining that they have access to free credit monitoring services. If you believe your data was taken, you should leverage credit monitoring services to safeguard your information and stay safe from problems in the future. Sign up for the free credit monitoring services and use them to watch your credit and respond to any issues that occur with that credit. You can protect your credit by putting a freeze on it, but this is a more drastic action. Actively watch your accounts and react to any odd changes.