MICHIGAN FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION ON COMPUTER HARD DRIVE STOLEN FROM DELL COMPUTER AT SCHOOL


Reaction has been swift and substantial to news that a Dell computer hard drive was stolen that contained the social security numbers of 4,400 graduates of Troy Athens High School.

The Troy School District went public with the theft Monday, when it filed a police report. A letter was sent last Thursday to the former students, who had graduated from 1994 to 2004.


The problem is, said the district's community relations director Tim McAvoy, the letter was sent to the last known address for the students. Many of them learned of the theft as reports circulated through the media early in the week.

Tuesday morning, McAvoy was swamped with calls.

By Tuesday afternoon, 41 so-called graduates had signed an online petition (troyathenssucks.com), asking the district for credit monitoring for a five-year period.

The Web site has become a forum of sorts, as those submitting their names leave comments about the incident ranging from calling it "ludicrous incompetence" to suggesting "you guys are overreacting."

GRADS REACT


Nick Britsky, a 2000 grad now working in advertising and living in Sterling Heights, and another graduate, Paul Nagy, met with district officials Tuesday. Following that meeting, they called off a mass meeting of the Athens graduates that had been planned for Wednesday morning.

"They're talking, that's good," Britsky said of the school district. "I don't feel like there is a cover-up."

Britsky now will send out e-mail notifications of progress to those graduates he is in contact with. He said he was notified of the incident when his parents, who live in Troy, received a letter from the district. He then began notifying the approximately 40 graduates from 1998 to 2000 who he said he has stored on his phone.

"It was about 50-50 (who had been notified) ... As I found out more had not gotten the letter, I set up the Web site."

Britsky said the goal is to get the district to provide credit monitoring for five years, at a cost he estimates at $100 per graduate per year -- or a total of about $4 million cost to a district that is already facing financial challenges.

McAvoy acknowledged that notification of the graduates -- which came more than a month after the theft in late August -- is a major issue being addressed by the former students.


REASONS FOR DELAY

McAvoy said the delay in notifying the former students was "the result of a number of complications." Those involved the transfer of data and the work being done by vendors at Athens in renovating the school.

"We've been working with all involved; we've been working with our vendors and our own staff to determine the whereabouts of the hard drive and what data was lost," he said.

"We wanted students to hear it from us."

McAvoy described the graduates' reactions as being concerned. "They have questions about identity theft and the free service we recommended," he said.

Others have mentioned that they have already exhausted the three free credit reports allowed each year. "They're interested in a long-term solution for that. Each one is being handled on an individual basis," he added.

The incident began in late August, when a computer hard drive -- about 1 1/2-by-2-by-6 inches in size -- was stolen from a guidance office when the data was being transferred to a new computer, McAvoy said.

Data involved included transcripts containing the names, addresses, social security numbers and standardized test results for the 4,400 Athens graduates.

In her letter to the students, Fowler expressed "deep regret" over the incident and offered advice to the former students on protecting their identify.

McAvoy said the district will work with the high school graduates.
"We are not walking away from our responsibility," he said.


REASON FOR THEFT

Despite the apparent theft, district officials "don't believe that any data has been compromised and we're hopeful it will be found in the building," McAvoy added.

That may be an indication, said Police Chief Charles Craft, that the hard drive was stolen as is typical in such cases -- for the equipment and not for the information it contained.

Craft said that, to his knowledge, this is the only computer theft experienced by the district, but such thefts "are a frequent occurrence in Troy."

But the chief said that, while the Athens graduates involved "have a legitimate concern ... in this particular case, it's not been conclusively determined that it was stolen."

He added that the district's delay in notifying the former students was a "normal reaction," as personnel may have thought it was misplaced.

His department has had success in recovering some missing computer equipment, he said, noting that a computer recently stolen from Troy Beaumont was recovered. He said an investigator will be working with the school district to find the hard drive.


WHAT'S BEING DONE

In the meantime, the district has taken steps to prevent a similar occurrence. The information had been stored on a hard drive in a computer in the guidance office. From now on, such information will only be stored on a network server in a locked facility with limited access.

Social security numbers are now being purged, McAvoy said, and will no longer be stored. Social security numbers began to be stored some years ago, he added, at the urging of the state as a way of tracking students.

For now, the former students are being encouraged to protect themselves from identity theft by getting credit reports and placing a 90-day fraud alert on their credit files.

For more information, contact McAvoy at (248) 823-4035 or e-mail him at tmcavoy2@troy.k12.mi.us
sarmbruster@hometownlife.com

Originally published October 12, 2006