Nebraska Student Information System Breached by Cyber Attack

The Nebraska Student Information System (NeSIS) was breached in a cyber-attack and record of 650,000 individuals were compromised. The University of Nebraska is leading an investigation to identify the hacker and the motives.

With numbers, addresses, grades, transcripts, housing and financial aid information exposed, the University of Nebraska assures everyone that no credit card data was exposed and it has not indication that any data was downloaded.

“The University of Nebraska takes the protection of student and alumni information very seriously. Right now we`re focused on determining the exact nature of the breach and communicating with those who may have been affected,” said university information security officer Joshua Mauk. “We are working with law enforcement and forensics experts to thoroughly reconstruct this incident so that we can identify limitations in our system and put new safeguards in place for the future.”

NeSIS manages student information dating as far back as 1985, so this security breach could potentially affect everyone included in this timeframe. Although there`s no data for students of the University of Nebraska Medical Center prior to December 2010, the risk that current information has been tampered with is still great.

The university is treating alumni information with the highest priority and those who might be affected have already been made aware. By working with law enforcements and forensics, the university hopes to plug the security hole and prevent any further attacks.

“Together with law enforcement and an external security services firm, the university is working to determine the extent of the breach and to what degree, if any, individuals` personal information may have been compromised,” a statement noted, adding that “data for the Nebraska State College System, which is also housed in NeSIS, does not appear at this time to have been breached but that investigation is continuing.“