SSN's of CCSU staff, students exposed

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WTNH) - Central Connecticut State University officials have announced that a security breach in a CCSU Business Office computer exposed the Social Security Numbers of current and former faculty, staff, and student workers to potential misuse.

James Estrada, the University's Chief Information Officer, says the computer was infected by a "Z-Bot" virus which is malicious software program that exposed the Social Security Numbers of 18,275 CCSU individuals to potential risk. No other information, such as names or home addresses were exposed.

"After conducting a forensic analysis, we have been unable to determine if any data was stolen or used in an unauthorized manner - only that the data was vulnerable for eight days in early December," said Estrada in a written statement . "As soon as the virus was detected, we acted immediately to protect the data by taking the impacted computer off line."

"They can do anything with that, they can make a credit card, debit card, buy everything, it can ruin your life," said freshman, Kevin Gorman.

CCSU has alerted the campus of the incident, has announced that the University is offering identity protection services. The free services are being offered through Debix , an independent company  that specializes in protecting and restoring personal credit and identity information and has worked with many of the state's colleges and universities on similar incidents.

"It makes me nervous, I did actually tell my parents about it because I didn't know what to do," said freshman, Kayla Fortin.

The University is in the process of matching the SSNs with names and addresses. Those whose information may have been compromised are being notified by Debix about how to receive credit and identity theft protection.

"I couldn't believe it, I told my friends, I saw the email, and it was shocking, and I wasn't expecting it at all," said freshman, Sebastian Arango.

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