Data breach leads to loss of details of over 8,300 P.K. Yonge employees, students
A laptop computer stolen last month endangered the personal information of over 8,300 current and former students and employees of P.K. Yonge Development Research School, a kindergarten-through-grade-12 laboratory school affiliated with University of Florida’s College of Education.
The files stored on the stolen laptop contained employee payroll, employee parking permit and student information dating back to 2000, along with names, Social Security numbers and, in some cases, Florida driver’s license numbers. PK Yonge officials have confirmed that no student academic or medical records, nor any credit card details, were on the computer.
The school has started an official mailing campaign with 841 letters already sent and more on the way, explaining to those affected by the breach that their information has been exposed by the theft.
“We regret that this incident occurred and are working diligently to notify the people who may be impacted by this theft,” P.K. Yonge Director Fran Vandiver said.
The incident happened on July 23 when the laptop was taken from a P.K. Yonge employee’s rental car in San Francisco. The good news is that, unlike other hardware theft cases, the computer files were password-protected, yet school officials have no way of knowing if the information was accessed.
And another piece of good news, P.K. Yonge is working on preventing similar breaches. They are installing protective encryption software on laptops that contain restricted data, and the university continues to review and improve its policies and procedures for protecting information.
“Employees and students have entrusted us with their personal information, and we take that responsibility seriously,” said Elias Eldayrie, UF’s chief information officer. “We are committed, as always, to continuous improvement and doing everything that we can to protect university data.”
Those who think they might have been affected by the breach can find more information on how to act here: http://privacy.ufl.edu/incidents/.
