Virginia Commonwealth University says someone hacked into a computer server containing files with personal information on tens of thousands of people.
A statement from the university said VCU believes the "likelihood is very low that any personal data on the individuals in the files was compromised" during the breach, which was first discovered Oct. 24.
VCU said it is notifying everyone who may have been affected by e-mail and first-class mail.
The university said the server contained files with personal data on 176,567 current and former VCU and VCU Health System faculty, staff, students and affiliates. Data included either a name or electronic identification, Social Security number and, in some cases, date of birth, contact information and various programmatic or departmental information.
The Richmond school said that after the initial breach was discovered, the server was taken offline and a forensic investigation was launched in an effort to identify what unauthorized activities had taken place and the vulnerabilities that led to the compromise. The vulnerabilities have been corrected, and it has been determined that this server contained no personal data, VCU said.
Five days later, VCU said, the university discovered two unauthorized accounts had been created on a second server, which also was taken offline. Subsequent analysis showed the intruders had compromised this device through the first server, but the intruders were on the server a short period of time and appeared to do nothing other than create the two accounts, the university said.
The information about the 176,000-plus people was on the second server.
The university said it was "unable to determine with 100 percent certainty that the intruders did not access or copy the files in question. We believe the likelihood that they did is very low. However, because this data was potentially exposed, we are proactively informing of this event and subsequent actions affected individuals can take to monitor personal information."
VCU said it is working with local and federal law-enforcement agencies as the investigation continues.
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