What the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Hack Attack Means for Students

How safe is your identity? Photo courtesy of mikebaird. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.Last week, hackers breached the security of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee by planting malware in the university's computer systems. The result was the exposure of social security numbers of students, faculty, and staff. Though forensic experts don't believe that the motive behind the hacking was identity theft, the social security numbers and names of over 75,000 people associated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

As college students, we are required to give our social security numbers to a variety of institutions for financial and background reasons. However, when a computer attack like this one happens, it can cause unease for us to feel vulnerable to attack and identity theft. The lesson college students should take from this incident is to always be cautious when dealing with personal information. Even when you trust the institution you are giving your information to, like your university, be aware the things can go wrong. Even upstanding places like colleges aren't safe from hackers.

To protect yourself against stolen identity, follow your credit reports closely and check up on anything that seems out of the norm. Always check your bank statements to make sure that there aren't any purchases listed that you don't remember making. Constant vigilance!

[via Maximum PC]