<\/p>\n
A data breach running since spring 2014 on the district security system was discovered in November. The names, date of birth and social security numbers of about 1,000 of spring 2013 students and about 150 employees in San Jose City and Evergreen colleges had been accessible on the district website for more than two years, public information officer at the Chancellor’s office Ryan Brown said.<\/p>\n
After the discovery, Brown said that the district removed the file immediately and contacted every individual whose information was on the file, notifying them that the district would offer a free service providing identity repair and credit monitoring service with the company AllClear ID during a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way to find the file was doing a search\u201d Brown said, \u201cthere never was a hyperlink to the website.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the April 4 academic senate meeting, Vice Chancellor Ben Seaberry said that the district\u2019s estimated cost for the breach was about $45,000 and was not covered by its insurance.<\/p>\n
David Lomax, a SJCC construction instructor who took plumbing class in spring 2013, received the letter from the district informing him he was part of the file exposed to the security breach: he said he didn’t understand what it was related to.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe letter was pretty cold, disturbing,\u201d Lomax said. \u201cI have had so many computer problems before, and nobody came back to me, and then I received a letter explaining \u2018it’s not our fault,\u2019 it was pretty upsetting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, some faculty members of the San Jose Evergreen Community College District received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service informing them that a suspicious federal tax return had been filed with their names and social security numbers.<\/p>\n
Among them, some were taking class during the spring semester 2013 and their names were on the file.<\/p>\n
It would be easy to relate the data breach to their potential identity theft: we tried to contact these faculty members but none of them accepted to publicly connect the two events.<\/p>\n
The district doesn\u2019t plan on reinforcing support for student victims of this data breach, arguing that all the necessary measures had already been taken, and no evidence existed about a link between the data breach and the identity theft.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not heard of anyone who has experienced identity theft who can say it is for certain related to this data breach,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe have absolutely no evidence. We also know people who have received a letter from the IRS about a suspicious federal tax return who were not on the list. The chancellor of the district received it, for instance. From what we know, it is not related.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown added that identity theft had been increasing lately and that we were in a time of the year when people might discover it because it was the period of filling tax return.<\/p>\n
A disciplinary process for the district also started but the identity of the employee responsible for the data breach remained secret.<\/p>\n
The public is just told that it wasn\u2019t an act of malice but an unintentional post.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done re-training for the employees and we\u2019re looking at technology tools to prevent that,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAs a district, we take very seriously protecting the personal information of our students and employees to prevent something like this never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president of academic senate and ethnic studies professor Jesus Covarrubias said faculty was very concerned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf students are victims from identity theft, it could be absolutely linked to the data breach, that is serious and would compromise their privacy,\u201d Covarrubias said.<\/p>\n
Covarrubias said it will be important for the district to provide follow ups, particularly if students speak up and ask help from their teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf students notice some irregularities either on their financial status or other, they should definitely come forward and consult a teacher to guide them to the right resources,\u201d Covarrubias said. “We don\u2019t want students to be negatively affected by what happens in SJCC.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the student side, the associated student government heard about the data breach, but didn\u2019t receive any complain from students, President Iriana Luna is not planning to address that issue for now: \u201cthere is no faculty or any students coming to us to address this issue, so it\u2019s kind of hard for us to take a stand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The student trustee at the district board Marcelo Lopez encouraged students to \u201cspeak up if and when there is a security issue, so that concern can be properly addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CALL TO WITNESS FOR STUDENTS AND FACULTY<\/p>\n