Lansing Community College has completed its investigation into a cyberattack that occurred in March, revealing that hundreds of thousands of individuals were impacted. The attack led to the temporary suspension of online courses and the shutdown of campus WiFi.
After engaging third-party cybersecurity experts, Lansing discovered that over 758,000 people had their names and Social Security numbers stolen as a result of the data breach.
The stolen personal information poses a significant risk, as cybercriminals can exploit it for various fraudulent activities and impersonation online.
Lansing Community College confirmed that the threat actors likely had unauthorized access to their internal computer systems between December 25th and March 15th. The college has informed affected individuals in Maine, a state with strict reporting requirements for data breaches, through written notifications.
While the 138 victims from Maine have been offered free identity theft protection and credit monitoring services as compensation for one year, it remains unclear if individuals from other states received the same assistance.
Additionally, questions have arisen regarding why a university with 19,000 students had data on such a large number of people. The high victim count may be attributed to Lansing’s online students, who were not included in the initial figure, as well as the storage of details related to third-party contractors in their systems.
Although Lansing Community College has found no evidence of identity theft or fraud linked to the incident, their thorough review indicated that certain employee, student, and vendor information was present in the compromised records. The college has taken steps to notify relevant state regulators and credit reporting agencies, including Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, about the breach.
Unfortunately, community colleges in the United States have increasingly become prime targets for cybercriminals, as evidenced by the previous attacks on Northern Essex and Bristol colleges in Massachusetts.
