The Chicago Tribune has recently reported that the University of Indianapolis has been attacked by a computer hacker. Someone was able to break into their computer system and gained access to the sensitive data of 11,000 people on file, including social security numbers. This includes faculty, students and staff.

The breach of this Sept 8th incident, was discovered Sept 18th by another institution that notified the school and the FBI. An investigation is under way and whether any information has been stolen is not yet known.

“We don’t know that anything was done with this information, just that there was a compromise,” university spokesman Scott Hall told The Indianapolis Star on Tuesday.

According to the University, the records that were accessed are at least two years old. This breach also affects the President of the University, Beverley J. Pitts. Victims of this incident are to being notified by email and postal mail.

The investigation has revealed that this was a professional hacker and the breach was beyond their control. The University at one time tracked all individuals in their system by social security number. This is no longer the case, however, prior records accessed did involve social security numbers.

It has also been revealed that this breach might not have been initiated within the United States. The programming code used included an unidentified foreign language. One research analyst has noted that more colleges are being targeted by hackers who are specifically looking for personal and financial data on computers. Similar attacks have targeted universities nationwide in prior years, including: Texas, Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, Missouri and Southern California.

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