ORLANDO, Fla. – A data breach at the University of Central Florida resulted in unauthorized access to the Social Security numbers of 63,000 current and former students, university officials said on Thursday.
UCF said it discovered the breach in January and reported the incident to law enforcement.
[READ: Letter sent to students | MORE: News 6 covers Schemes and Ripoffs | UCF data breach updates ]
According to a release, the investigation found that Social Security numbers for approximately 63,000 students, staff and faculty members were accessed.
Credit card information was not included in the breach.
UCF confirmed to News 6 the following groups have been affected:
- Current student athletes
- Student athletes who played last year
- UCF Athletics support staff
- Undergraduate student employees
- Graduate Assistants
- Housing Resident Assistants
- Adjunct faculty
- Student government leaders, current and former
"Those who are affected will soon receive a letter by mail that explains how to sign up for one year of free credit monitoring and identity-protection services," University President John C. Hitt wrote in a post on UCF's website.
An internal investigation is also being launched.
"Safeguarding your personal information is of the utmost importance at UCF. To ensure our vigilance, I have called for a thorough review of our online systems, policies and training to determine what improvements we can make in light of this recent incident," Hitt wrote.
Letters will go out to those affected on Friday and should be received by Monday.
If you have questions about the incident, UCF set up a call center that can be reached at 877-752-5527 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. EST Monday through Friday. A website will also be updated with details about the incident and recommendations.