Cyberattack Hits University of Michigan, Compromises Data From 230,000

The University of Michigan announced it suffered a data breach in August after hackers infiltrated its campus system and compromised student, employee and alumni information.

In a statement, the college said the unauthorized access to the servers lasted between August 23-27, with the hacker gaining access to details such as individuals’ financial accounts, social security numbers, driver’s license details and health information. 

According to the statement, around 230,000 individuals’ sensitive personal data was involved in the incident.

“Based on data analysis, we believe that the unauthorized third party was able to access personal information relating to certain students and applicants, alumni and donors, employees and contractors, University Health Service and School of Dentistry patients and research study participants,” the university said. 

The university responded by disconnecting the campus network and launching an investigation into the source of the breach. 

“We…notified law enforcement and continue to coordinate with them,” the university statement said. “In addition, we are continuing to work with third-party cybersecurity experts to take steps to harden our systems and emerge from this incident as a more secure community.”

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The university added that it was also offering impacted individuals credit monitoring services, “out of an abundance of caution.”

The breach was disclosed by the University of Michigan at the time of discovery, though the recent report marks the first detailed account of what happened.