MICHIGAN STUDENT INFORMATION ON STOLEN COMPUTER Students informed of potential data theft:

News Release from Northwestern Michigan College
1701 E. Front St., Traverse City MI 49686
Contact: Paul Heaton, 231 995-1019, email: pheaton@nmc.edu
Date: April 18, 2008
News & Events
Students informed of potential data theft

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – A laptop computer stolen from a company that works with NMC may have put personal information of 1,600 NMC students from 2003 at risk.

The laptop belonged to a consultant at SunGard Higher Education, which provides NMC’s core data management systems. It was stolen March 13 in New York. NMC was notified of the theft on April 10, but did not receive notification about data that was involved until April 16.

NMC is mailing letters to everyone whose personal information was on the laptop. Most of those affected were students in 2003, plus a handful of employees. Not everyone who took classes in 2003 is affected. SunGard – at NMC’s request – also will pay for one year of credit monitoring services for those affected. Such services will notify individuals within 24 hours of changes to their credit reports.

SunGard has said they believe the laptop was stolen for the hardware value, and not the data contained on it. SunGard has told us that the laptop’s operating system is protected with a strong password.

NMC also has asked SunGard to verify that it has destroyed any other similar data that may be on the company’s personal computers, and has let the company know that it is expected to cover all expenses relating to the incident.

“We also have expressed our deep concern to SunGard about the length of time it took them to notify us of this incident,” said Craig Mulder, NMC’s Executive Director of Learning Resources and Technologies. “NMC takes data integrity and security very seriously.” For example, in the summer of 2003 NMC switched away from using Social Security numbers as the primary identifier for students.

The letter includes information about a special website and toll-free number for those who may be affected by the laptop theft. Although those affected should receive a letter, others wondering if their information might be at risk can call a special toll-free number, 866-520-2408 with questions or concerns.

People whose personal data is potentially at risk are advised to request a free credit report from one of the three major credit reporting agencies and review it for any irregularities or unrecognized accounts. To protect privacy, neither NMC nor SunGard will release details about the type or contents of information contained on the laptop.