Identity Theft Exposure of 137,000 Bobcats

Special Alert for OU Alumni effective 5/1/06.

For more than one year, hackers worldwide had
unauthorized computer access to a database holding
the social security numbers (ssn) of over 137,000
alumni of Ohio University.

Yet, the number of identity theft effected alumni
could reach as high as 300,000 when you
consider the number of individuals who did not
have ssn but other personally identifying
information on the database which identity
thieves could still use to commit credit fraud.

This unfortunately includes Faculty
and staff who were hired prior to
January 2004.

Given the lenthy time - over one year in length- and
the extensive scope of this identity theft security
breach (worldwide), Ohio University officials
understandably are moving to notify individuals who
could be negatively impacted.

So, our tip for today is to contact the special toll
free hotline if you're an Ohio University alumni or
staff member affected by this security breach.

1-800-901-2303 -or- via the web at
www.ohio.edu/datatheft.

Or, tell a friend or fellow Bobcats about this advisory.

Once you have contacted the hotline to verify you
were one of the unfortunate 300,000 your next course
of action will be to file an immediate fraud alert
with the three national credit bureaus.

The free initial fraud alert service requests that
any creditor contact you by phone at a designated
phone number before attempting to opening a new
loan or credit card account.

End note:

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