Law Schools, Technology

Law School Victim Of A Cyber Attack, Applicant Data Compromised

An unexpected downside to applying to this law school.

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privacy online privacy cyber privacy keyboard in chainsThe stress of applying to law school can be intense. The LSAT, the essay, the hassle of it all. Now there’s an additional stress factor — well, if you applied to the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2005-06.

Last week Wisconsin Law experienced a cyber attack in which the personal information — including Social Security numbers — of 1,213 applicants from the 05-06 season was compromised. That’s a real… unexpected downside to applying to law school. As a tipster noted:

They didn’t even let me in to the school, but I guess the hackers had no effing problem.

In the letter Wisconsin sent to those whose information was compromised, the school also notes that they are providing them access to a data breach and recovery services expert to prevent against identify theft. In a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the school said:

Security measures have been increased, including implementing additional vulnerability identification programs, evaluating current computer applications and decommissioning those no longer needed, tightening credentials for access to databases, and deploying additional network intrusion detection.

Nothing like a law school application from a decade ago to bite you in the ass.

UPDATE 12/7/16 3:17 p.m.: Wisconsin Law School responded to our request for comment with the following:

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[T]he University is very sorry this breach occurred. We take the security of our networks and data very seriously. We have evaluated what happened and how, and we’ve taken several steps to increase security surrounding the specific data set and server. The UW has passed along forensic information to our police department, which is working closely with local authorities in the jurisdiction of the person we believe to be responsible for the hack.

Notices were sent yesterday to those whose data was accessed. We are providing one free year of credit monitoring for those who wish to use it.

UW Law School data breach disclosed [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

(Flip to the next page to read the letter the school sent to those affected by the data breach.)

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