Social Security Numbers of University of Central Florida Students, Faculty, Staff May Be At Risk After Hacking Incident

University of Central Florida, UCF, said Thursday investigators found that hackers accessed 63,000 Social Security numbers, but not credit card, financial or medical records, of students, Faculty, and staff.

Former students and employees were affected.

Read the full statement below from Pres. John C. Hitt:

Today I am sharing news that a recent outside intrusion into UCF’s computer network compromised the personally identifiable information of some members of our university community.

UCF discovered the unauthorized access in January. University officials reported the incident to law enforcement and launched an internal investigation with the assistance of a national digital forensics firm.

To date, our investigation has indicated unauthorized access to Social Security numbers but not credit card information, financial records, medical records, or grades for approximately 63,000 current and former UCF students and staff and faculty members.

We have launched this web page devoted to this incident that includes descriptions for the groups of current and former students and employees, as well as recommendations for how to best protect your identity.

We have established a call center that you can contact at 877-752-5527 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. EST Monday through Friday if you have questions about this incident.

Those who are affected will soon receive a letter by mail that explains how to sign up for one year of free credit monitoring and identity-protection services.

Moving Forward

Safeguarding your personal information is of the utmost importance at UCF. To ensure our vigilance, I have called for a thorough review of our online systems, policies and training to determine what improvements we can make in light of this recent incident.

Every day, people and groups attempt to illegally access secure data from institutions around the world. Higher education institutions are popular targets.

UCF will continue to work diligently to protect this important information from those who would break the law to get it.

John C. Hitt
President