In October, the University of Michigan announced that it had suffered a data breach in August 2023. Unauthorized actors accessed systems containing personal, financial, and medical information belonging to students, applicants, alumni, donors, employees, patients, and research study participants. The university says that the unauthorized access lasted from August 23-27, 2023.
University of Michigan Data Breach Summary
- In August 2023, the University of Michigan detected suspicious activity on its network and isolated its entire campus network from the internet to minimize the impact.
- A dedicated review team investigated the incident and determined that unauthorized actors had accessed personal, medical, and financial information belonging to students, applicants, alumni, donors, employees, contractors, research study participants, and patients of the University Health Service and School of Dentistry.
- The exposed information includes names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, financial account information, health insurance information, medical records, and research study data.
- The university has notified all individuals whose information was exposed and is offering them complimentary credit monitoring services.
- The university is working with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident and prevent future attacks.
Recommendations
If you received a notification letter from the University of Michigan, or if you believe that your information may have been compromised in the data breach, change passwords immediately, sign up for two-factor authentication on all online accounts, and monitor credit reports and bank statements for any suspicious activity. Also, consider placing a fraud alert or credit freeze on your credit report.
To protect yourself from future data breaches, be careful about what links you click on and what attachments you open in emails, keep the software up to date, use strong passwords, and don’t reuse them across multiple accounts, and be careful about what information you share online.
The University of Michigan is one of the oldest and largest universities in the United States, with an academic and administrative staff of more than 30,000 and about 51,000 students. The data breach is a reminder that even large organizations are vulnerable to cyberattacks. It is important to take steps to protect your personal information, both online and offline.
Keep in touch with our blog to read the latest news and innovations in the cybersecurity world.
Facebook: Eagle Tech Corp
Instagram: @eagletech_corp
Twitter: @eagletechcorp
LinkedIn: Eagle Tech
YouTube: Eagle Tech Corp
