Eastern Michigan University investigating computer security breach, employee banking information may be compromised

Posted on Sun, Sep 5, 2010 : 8:25 p.m.

Eastern Michigan University investigating computer security breach, employee banking information may be compromised

By Stefanie Murray

Updated story: EMU officials say login information was compromised in security breach

An Eastern Michigan University computer server was hacked into late Friday, potentially exposing employees' direct deposit banking information, some university passwords and personal identification numbers, according to an e-mail sent to the EMU community tonight.

The security breach occurred about 11:30 p.m. Friday, according to the e-mail, and was discovered Saturday by the school’s IT staff during routine system monitoring. It happened on a server that controls my.emich passwords and Banner Self-Service PIN codes for students and employees.

At this point, there has been no indication of any unusual activity on anyone’s accounts, said Walter Kraft, EMU vice president of communications.

Cyber security

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team is the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Division at the Department of Homeland Security.

Visit http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ for tips on general security and e-mail and mobile device privacy, among others.

“This is really, for us, a precautionary measure,” Kraft said. “We felt it was prudent to put out this notification to alert and advise (students and employees) and if anyone sees anything unusual, they could advise us.”

Kraft said the way the system is set up, it would be difficult for anyone to actually access personal information after hacking into the server.

“Someone would really have to work hard and really know what they are doing to find (personal information),” Kraft said.

EMU’s e-mail system was inaccessible for some time today, but Kraft said that problem wasn’t related to the security breach.

EMU’s information technology department is investigating what happened, and the school’s Department of Public Safety is opening an investigation as well. An outside data breach consultant is also working with the university.

Anyone who has questions or suspects unusual activity is asked to contact EMU’s information technology staff by e-mailing helpdesk@emich.edu.

Comments

jcj

Tue, Sep 7, 2010 : 7:09 p.m.

This is exactly why I never do direct deposits. There are too many numskulls in this world to trust them with my money!

xmo

Mon, Sep 6, 2010 : 7:36 a.m.

Security breech, no scoreboard during the Eastern-Army Football game, What is going on at EMU? Let's call for a Congressional hearing!