University Accidently Posts 9,100 Student Social Security Numbers On Internet

[mandy]

Montclair State University has warned 9,100 undergraduate students that it accidentally posted their names and Social Security numbers on the Internet for nearly four months.

University administrators sent letters to students on Thursday, warning them to make sure they aren't the victims of identity theft.

"Certainly our hope is we've caught this in time," Ann Frechette, a Montclair State University spokeswoman

Information technology staff at the university became aware of the problem after an undergraduate student notified them that he has stumbled upon the information while making an Internet search on Google.

full article: http://www.wnbc.com/education/5105759/detail.html?rss=ny&psp=news

[rose]

Officials on the campus only said the posting was a simple mistake, and the employee involved wasn't punished.

Posting 9100 social security numbers to be googled is a simple mistake? 

[Jen]

Hope their computer science department doesn't teach any internet and network security classes.  If so, I'd probably have to demand a refund - the blind leading the blind and all.

[stardust]

[quote author=Jen link=topic=858.msg3234#msg3234 date=1129580757]
Hope their computer science department doesn't teach any internet and network security classes.  If so, I'd probably have to demand a refund - the blind leading the blind and all.
[/quote]

[amy]

I don't know which is worse: hackers stealing personal data or human stupidity giving it away for free. 

[xppman]

Whooops. 

[Jen]

All 16,000 Montclair State students were alerted about the problem, even though the files were only for 9,100 undergraduates.

Wow, more than half of the students were affected?  Must have been the A-M list 

[jezebel]

For the students sake I hope the college webmaster failed SEO 101 

[thentavius]

for months...

Whoops. That's some mistake. It probably wouldn't be such a total snafu if they had noticied it quickly, and withdrawn the information. BUT--for MONTHS? Sheesh.