Aerospace Engineering

May 9, 2005

On May 2, 2005, Dr. E. Wright Leaphart, Aerospace Engineering, sent mid-term grades by email to students which were in his Aero 310 section classes (3 classes totaling 411 students) . The email inadvertently contained personal information. The data elements in the personal information were name and social security number. The students were notified immediately of the error and instructed to destroy the information.

Because the personal information listed above are used by identity thieves to commit credit and banking fraud, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse strongly encourages you to obtain free copies of their three credit reports right away. They also encourage the placement of a fraud alert on your account. Information on how to contact the three credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and Trans Union - is available from the California Office of Privacy Protection, at: http://www.privacy.ca.gov.

The Aerospace Engineering Department, College of Engineering , and Cal Poly take security of personal data seriously. Dr. Leaphart has taken steps to assure that this does not happen again which include assigning students a unique identifier for the class, no longer e-mail grades, and posting grades on the Cal Poly blackboard system.

If you have questions, please contact Dr. Jordi Puig-Suari at 805.756.6479 or jpuigsua@calpoly.edu.