Jeff LaFave, a 2013 graduate who now lives in Bloomington, Ind., where IU’s main campus is located, said he was not angry about the lag in communication.
But he has heard grumblings from IU students there, many of whom received the news through the student newspaper after walking to campus in 15-degree weather Wednesday morning.
“It’s understandable that the administration wants, and uses, extra time to make the right chess move in a game called public relations, but the average 21-year-old on-campus student that trudges through snow and faces a giant student loan bill isn’t going to take any such news with patience,” LaFave said.
IU’s announcement comes less than one week after a massive breach at the university’s future Big Ten conference-mate the University of Maryland. That exposure of more than 300,000 records was the result of a targeted and sophisticated attack.
Keeping sensitive student data under wraps has been a struggle in higher education.
More than 3 million records were compromised in data security breaches at colleges and universities last year, accounting for ten percent of all data breaches in the United States.
Higher education networks are 300 percent more likely to contain malware than their enterprise and government counterparts, according to OpenDNS, an internet security company.
“IU takes the security of all its data, especially the personal information of its students, extremely seriously and apologizes for any concern this issue may cause among our students and their families,” John Applegate, executive vice president for academic affairs at IU, said. “The university also is committed to assisting those whose information was potentially exposed.”
Follow Jake New on Twitter at @eCN_Jake.
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