Were you enrolled in 10th grade between 2001 and 2003 or did you work for a public Louisiana college or university in either 2000 or 2001? If you did, someone you don’t know might have a nine-digit number you hold very dear. The Louisiana Board of Regents had a list of more than 80,000 names and Social Security numbers displayed on a publicly accessible Web site. If that number wasn’t enough, the list also had birth dates and addresses. In the days of rampant identity theft, the Louisiana Board of Regents put all this information on display for anyone to find if they searched well. The best part is they had absolutely no idea they were doing it. WDSU-TV in New Orleans broke the story a week ago. WDSU’s source, Aaron Titus, said he “found the open door to the Board of Regents internal network using Google.” Titus also found about 150 other online lists that contain more than 75,000 additional names and social security numbers, according to WDSU. Honestly, what on Earth are these people doing? We’ve all filled out the school forms and college applications and jumped through all the hoops. In the era of identity theft, we still give up our sacred nine digits, in the hope that schools have our best interests at heart. In its statement, the board said, “The Board of Regents is working to notify the potentially affected people and has set up a Web site to advise them of ways to protect their privacy.” Apparently they are going to contact everyone whose information they gave out, that way they can make sure they have updated addresses on them. Why not make it something for everyone, even those that weren’t directly affected, and why not actually make it public knowledge that some people might be at risk? Oh and how about not making it a Web site. You guys don’t seem to have much luck with those. There is some light at the end of this dark, moronic tunnel. Within a few hours of notification, the Board of Regents did correct the problem and made a statement admitting fault. We’re just left hoping that it was enough. This stuff has been out there for quite a while, and a guy found it with Google. Protect yourselves, boys and girls.
Our generation’s mob is going to be on the Internet, and they are going to love sites like that.
—Contact Geoff Whiting at [email protected]