McHenry County College (MCC) has
notified certain employees and students that their personal information was
unintentionally shared with three other Illinois community colleges by its
technology vendor, Ellucian.
The College was made aware of the
incident the week of July 22, 2013 by Ellucian, which had inadvertently shared
MCC employee and student data, including name, mailing address, social security
number and some student IDs, through a reporting template that the company had
created for MCC and is also using for the other community colleges.
Upon learning of this situation, MCC
immediately put a communication plan in place to notify the individuals
affected, which included a personal letter mailed to each person and the
creation of a dedicated hotline for individuals to call with
questions/concerns. The College also provided those individuals contact
information for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and consumer reporting
agencies, in the event that anyone should want to take further measures to
guard against potential misuse of personal information.
MCC was advised that the only individuals
at the other colleges who may have had access to this personal information are
IT and research personnel who are authorized to manage confidential data.
Ellucian has coordinated action with the other three community colleges so that
all MCC data has been permanently deleted from the other institutions’
electronic systems. The College believes that it is unlikely that this release
of personal information resulted in any misuse.
According to MCC Chief Information
Officer, Al Butler, “Maintaining the security and confidentiality of personal
information is a top priority at MCC. Upon learning of this incident, the
College required Ellucian to take immediate action to ensure that any effect
from the release of personal information was mitigated.”
MCC has the appropriate measures in
place to continue the protection of confidential data.
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