The Social Security numbers of 17,214 current and former Virginia Commonwealth University students may have been put at risk when a computer was stolen from a locked room in Cabell Library. The desktop computer, stolen in mid-April, may have contained student names, Social Security numbers and test scores dating back to October 2005. VCU discontinued use of Social Security numbers as ID numbers in January 2007.

Hackers may have infiltrated computers containing licensing information on doctors, nurses and other professions overseen by the Virginia Department of Health Professions. By yesterday afternoon, all 36 computer servers storing the state agency’s records were shut down after a midday message popped up on some computer screens that implied the system was being hacked.

A glitch in a Virginia Commonwealth University e-mail server is sending thousands of spam messages around the nation. The e-mail about October events from the College of Humanities and Sciences has been sent repeatedly to alumni. When recipients respond to the first message asking that they be removed from the sender’s list, their responses apparently are being sent to all addresses on the VCU server. The university is looking into the problem.