"Connecticut College is undertaking a thorough forensic investigation that includes leading cybersecurity experts to address a data security incident in which an unauthorized party accessed and/or acquired certain files maintained on the College's computer systems," the institution said in a statement.
According to the statement, the breach was detected in March 2023 and prompted college officials to contact law enforcement and take steps to "remediate" the issue, as well as launch a third-party investigation.
None of the personal data released during the incident is believed to have been misused as a "direct result" of the breach, officials said, though the college said it would offer free credit monitoring services to those impacted as an added precaution.
The statement did not say how many people were affected or had their data released as a result of the breach. A spokesperson for the college declined to comment Thursday on that, or why it took nearly a year to make the breach public, citing the ongoing investigation.
Connecticut College, located on the banks of the Thames River, has an enrollment of 1,737 students, with 187 full-time professors.
The breach of data is the latest involving an institution of higher education in Connecticut. More than 800,000 Connecticut residents had their personal data released as part of a national data breach from a Denver-based wellness program, whose clients included Yale New Haven Health.
In 2019, a cyber attack at UConn Health resulted in 326,000 patients' data being released. UConn announced a separate breach of its email system last July, which did not result in the release of any personal or financial information of either student or faculty.
©2024 the Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, Conn.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
