Biomedical Engineering
March 23, 2017
We are sending this letter to you as part of California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo’s commitment to privacy. We take privacy very seriously at Cal Poly and out of an abundance of caution it is important to us that you are made fully aware of a potential issue.
What Happened?
Cal Poly’s Information Security Office was informed that your personal information was potentially exposed when an instructor’s external hard drive was lost on February 14, 2017. To date, the external hard drive has not been recovered or returned.
What Information Was Involved?
Personally identifiable information including your name associated with your social security number was involved. You may recall that social security numbers were used for student identification purposes over 10 years ago before that practice was changed.
What Are We Doing.
Cal Poly is reviewing policies and procedures for the handling of sensitive information and organizing information audits in all departments and divisions across campus to ensure no similar data exposures occur in the future.
What You Can Do.
If you have concerns about potential harm, the references below can explain how to receive a free copy of your credit report either through the Fair Credit Reporting Act or as a result of placing a fraud alert on your credit files:
- California Office of Privacy Protection http://www.privacy.ca.gov/consumers/identity_theft.shtml
- Social Security Office http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10064.html
- Free Credit Report https://www.annualcreditreport.com
The three credit bureaus are also a good source of information regarding potential identity theft:
- Equifax (800) 525-6285 www.equifax.com
- Experian (888) 397-3742 www.experian.com
- Transunion (800) 680-7289 www.transunion.com
If you become aware of suspicious activity after reviewing your credit reports or accounts, please contact law enforcement and the credit bureaus to report the crime and to investigate the incident.
We are also offering you one year of credit and identity monitoring via Experian, contact the office below.
We want to assure you that we have policies and procedures to protect your privacy and will be reviewing our policies to ensure that this does not happen again.
For more information, please contact the Biomedical Engineering Department Office at California Polytechnic State University at 805-756-6400.
