OAR Enrollment Support Services
December 17, 2004
I am writing to inform you of a situation that could affect you. On October 23, 2004, University Police at Cal Poly were notified by the Grover Beach Police that they had seized a hard drive, along with many other computer items, during a police action. It was determined that this particular hard drive belonged to Cal Poly. Based on the information available to us, it has been determined that the hard drive was removed from a computer that was once placed in the Office of Academic Records, Enrollment Support Services.
A thorough forensic analysis of the hard drive was required to determine if private information was stored on the hard drive. This analysis revealed names and social security numbers of 31 individuals. The majority of these files were e-mails sent to the Office of Academic Records from students dating from October 2000 to April 2002.
While there is no indication that your private information was accessed, we are sending you this information consistent with California Civil Code 1798.29, commonly referred to as SB 1386. We consider any breach of our computer security as a serious matter. Although Enrollment Support Services has in place procedures for reformatting or destroying storage devices such as a hard drive, this procedure is being reviewed to determine if additional actions should be added.
While we cannot advise you on how to proceed, one option you have is to contact one of the credit reporting agencies, each of which has an automated phone-in fraud alert process. If you place a fraud alert, the agency with which you place the initial alert will notify the other two agencies. Fraud alerts will then be placed automatically on your accounts at those two agencies, and all three agencies will separately mail credit reports to you at no cost. To understand the effects of a fraud alert, please visit this Fact Sheet on Credit Freeze and Fraud Alerts.
Contact information for the credit agencies is listed below:
- Equifax 800.5256285 http://www.equifax.com/home/en_us
- Experian 888.397.3742 http://www.experian.com/
- Trans Union 800.680.7289 http://www.transunion.com/
Once you receive your credit reports, review them for any suspicious activity. If you see any accounts you did not open or incorrect personal information, call the credit bureau(s) or your local law enforcement agency (e.g., city police department) to file a report of identity theft. The following resources can provide additional information about identity theft:
- California Attorney General’s Office - http://ag.ca.gov/idtheft/tips.php
- The Federal Trade Commission - http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identity-theft
- California Office of Privacy Protection
As we stated above, Cal Poly and Enrollment Support Services take very seriously the security of personal data. We regret any inconvenience this situation may cause you.
Sincerely,
Thomas Zuur, Registrar/Director of Academic Records
