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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowButler University officials are warning more than 160,000 students, faculty, staff and alumni that hackers may have accessed their personal information.
The Indianapolis school learned about the data breach when California officials contacted them last month to inform them that they'd arrested an identity theft suspect who had a flash drive with Butler employees' personal information on it.
Butler spokesman Michael Kaltenmark said school officials have found that the exposed information includes birthdates, Social Security numbers and bank account information of about 163,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni and even prospective students who never actually enrolled in classes at Butler.
"Unfortunately, we do think it's a remote hacking. The suspect that's been arrested has no affiliation with Butler University," Kaltenmark told WTHR-TV.
In a letter sent to those affected by the breach, Butler said someone hacked the school's network sometime between November 2013 and May 2014. School officials have offered those affected a year of free credit monitoring and urged them to keep an eye on their bank accounts and credit scores.
"I'll take the steps I can to protect it and all those necessary things," said recent Butler grad Sara Logel.
While the investigation into the data breach is ongoing, Butler officials insist that they have discovered all of their systems' vulnerabilities and corrected those.
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