University of Florida Records Are Hacked

On Campus reporter Marilia Brocchetto blogs:

Hackers at the University of Florida who breached the campus computer system may have gotten their hands on private information, including  Social  Security numbers, of some 97,200 people.

University officials said the  tapped  files contained information on students, faculty and staff who used the Grove computer system between 1996 and 2009. Grove was originally created to provide an online location for faculty to host course materials and class information. 

“The breach was discovered Jan. 14 during a systems review by an information technology staff member,” a university press release stated, adding that the system was immediately locked down.   

University of Florida officials have started to  get in touch with the almost-100,000 people affected, but according to the release, the school has no contact information for about 5,000.

The announcement comes less than a month after students received a bizarre text message through  the university’s  emergency contact system  that read: “ The monkey got out of the cage.” Former UF student Andrew Tatum later came forward and apologized for hacking into the system, and said the Inauguration Night message was sent by accident. 

While the first breach did not compromise any confidential data, this new incident may prove more serious. Officials have no evidence that intruders  obtained information stored on the system, but the university is urging  people who believe their information may have been on any of these files to take appropriate precautions.

Make sure to check back on our Web  site as ABC News On Campus reporter Miles Doran brings you the latest developments on this ongoing investigation.