Intruders Found Data on James Madison University Employees

Since October, the academic institution has been investigating the unauthorized access of multiple systems. On Dec. 11, the probe uncovered evidence that outsiders opened a file containing sensitive data on employees.

School technology personnel, “with guidance from security consultants, took significant steps to further identify and contain this unauthorized activity and prevent greater risk to the university community,” university officials said in a notification message posted online. “This work culminated in the December 17 network and data center maintenance you experienced.  Simultaneously included were initial measures to further strengthen our network security and more proactively defend against the constant and increasingly sophisticated threats JMU and other universities across the nation face.”

Affected servers include those that handle parking, university recreation activities, Center for Faculty Innovation workshop registration and Orientation OneBook.

The employee information compromised includes names, Social Security numbers, physical addresses, dates of birth, health insurance subscriber ID numbers and other data.