Lasell College is currently not in an emergency response mode.

NEWS ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 14, 2008        
CONTACT: RUTH SHUMAN, Dean for Institutional Advancement
 Phone: 617-243-2140

LASELL COLLEGE IDENTIFIES
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO CAMPUS COMPUTER NETWORK

Please note: If you have NOT been contacted by Lasell by letter
to notify you of the data breach, your records are not among
those inappropriately accessed and you are NOT affected.

NEWTON, MA—Lasell College officials today announced that an employee of the College obtained unauthorized access to data on the campus computer network. The data inappropriately accessed contains some personal information, including names and Social Security numbers of current and former students, faculty, staff and alumni. 

The College discovered suspicious activity on its network on February 6th and immediately began an investigation. The investigation determined that an employee in the Department of Information Technology had gained entry to portions of the College’s network that he was not authorized to access. After discovering the irregular activities, College officials contacted local law enforcement authorities who began their own investigation.

In addition, the College contacted the Attorneys General, other state officials and agencies in states where affected individuals reside. The College took immediate steps to ensure further the security of its information systems going forward. 

Based on the investigation to date, the College is not aware of any specific cases of misuse of personal information that was maintained on the information systems affected by this incident. Given the seriousness of the issue and the potential for misuse of the data accessed, Lasell College nevertheless sent a precautionary advisory to the approximately 20,000 people whose names appeared in the databases accessed. The advisory includes guidelines to help guard against identity theft. Lasell has also established a call center to answer individual questions and concerns about the matter. 

“We deeply regret this situation and are taking steps to investigate what has happened and to put measures in place to improve the protection of our data and to limit the data we keep to what we really need,” said Chief Information Officer Deborah Gelch. 

The College will provide updates on this matter for its constituents via the Internet at www.LasellEmergency.net. Anyone with questions about this incident should contact Ruth Shuman, Dean for Institutional Advancement at 617-243-2140.

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