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UM System: Students and Employees Experience Data Leak

University of Missouri System provided update Wednesday on the MOVEit data breach, students and employees potentially affected.

Posted August 18, 2023

The University of Missouri System was notified Wednesday concerning a potential data breach, impacting the system’s computer records.

As a result, some University of Missouri System students’ and employees’ information has been compromised as part of a data breach. The breach had a connection to the file transfer software called MOVEit.

MOVEit is a file transfer software for sharing large files between organizations and should be noted that MU is not the only organization affected by this data breach; UMKC, UMSL, and Missouri S&T have also been affected.

Cyber attacks on MOVEit began to circulate in May, however, an official release from the University of Missouri System said officials learned of the risk to university information “recently.”

University investigators promptly began an investigation after learning of the break.

“The breach impacted some outside vendors that we use to assist in our operations, including our enrollment and pension processes,” interim vice president for Information Technology, Ben Canlas said. “While we continue to work on obtaining specific information, we want to alert our employees, students and retirees that they might be impacted by this breach.”

Because the data breach also affected outside vendors used by the university, current and former university employees and students might receive information about the breach from one of these vendors independent from the university.

Steps to reduce individuals affected by the data breach’s chances of being victims of a similar crime:

  • Check your credit reports annually
  • Consider placing a credit freeze on your credit report
  • Block electronic access to Social Security Information by calling the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213
  • Remain suspicious of unknown links in emails
  • Don’t share personal information on email, social media posts or other electronic formats

This news comes only days before the start of a new academic school year.

View the University of Missouri’s full news release, here.