Six colleges in Florida had their students and employees’ personal data exposed due to a state library service center software glitch. The information was publically available on the Internet for 5 days.

Students, faculty, and employees at Broward College, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Northwest Florida State College, Pensacola State College, South Florida Community College, and Tallahassee Community College, all are at risk of exposed personal data, according to The College Center for Library Automation (CCLA), which provides automated library services and electronic resources to Florida public colleges.

Private information such as Social Security Numbers, names, driver’s license and card numbers of an estimated 126,000 students and employees was available on the internet after a library services firm serving the colleges inadvertently left the information in its database exposed for five days. The personal information in CCLA’s database did not include financial data or library usage records, and it was exposed between May 29 and June 2.

Six state community college colleges were affected because their borrower records were contained in temporary work files that were being processed at the time the breach occurred. The library agency learned of the incident on June 23, after a student reported finding his Social Security Number on the internet through a Google search.

The CCLA did not provide details of what the software upgrade entailed or why the upgrade left the database exposed, except that the compromised records had been stored in temporary work files that were being processed when the breach occurred.

“We pride ourselves on protecting private information and deeply regret this inadvertent exposure,” said Richard Madaus, CEO of CCLA. “I apologize to those involved for any worry or inconvenience this may cause them. We will continue to enhance our technology to safeguard all of the information entrusted to us.”

He also added “We’ve had some new grad hires who said when they took tests in college, they had to write their SSN on top of the test” to identify themselves, he says. “I think that’s changing, but there still are some old systems out there that need to be updated.”

The affected individuals are being notified by snail mail. Moreover, the agency has started with the investigation after discovering the breach, and the case has also been turned over to the county sheriff’s office. Also, the CCLA has set up a webpage about the breach and recommends that people affected by the breach place free fraud alerts on their credit files and check their credit reports for suspicious activity.

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