An alert  and a reminder to safeguard confidential information
CCOE USB incident prompts
information security response
Following the discovery that a purse
stolen from a Cal State L.A. employee contained an unencrypted USB
drive (or Âmemory stickÂ) with personal information of 2,534
individuals related to the Charter College of EducationÂs Teacher
Credential Program, the University has established a call center
and website to handle inquiries and assist those whose information
was on the USB drive.
The drive contained names,
addresses, email addresses and Social Security numbers for five
applicants, 2,481 students or program completers, and 48 faculty
(teaching supervisors). Letters were sent yesterday to all of the
individuals affected by the incident encouraging them to contact
the three credit bureaus and place fraud alerts on their accounts
to ensure they are not a victim of fraud or identity theft.
There is no way of knowing if the
thief or thieves accessed any of the personal information.
For more information
This website provides information
about the incident and the UniversityÂs response to it:
www.calstatela.edu/usbincident.
The call center the University has
established to assist affected individuals may be reached
toll-free at (800) 883-4029, and
from on campus, ext. 3-7300.
Prevention and protection
The incident should remind all Cal
State L.A. staff, faculty, administrators, and students that all
portable media must be encrypted and to handle sensitive
information securely and safeguard all confidential information.
The Division of Information
Technology Services offers information about preventing fraud,
identity theft, protecting computers (including laptops) from
viruses and other menaces, online shopping safety, and other
topics on its Are You Secure? website:
www.calstatela.edu/its/itsecurity. Any individual,
department, or division storing confidential information
(including SSN, driverÂs license #, credit card #) in an
unencrypted format must immediately contact Michael Perry, acting
director of IT Security and Compliance, at ext. 3-2651 or
[email protected].
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