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LOGAN — A staff member from Utah State University accidentally sent an email to USU student veterans which contained 347 individual names and Social Security Numbers to 1,033 people on Thursday, according to a USU press release.
"Someone in the veterans affairs office, instead of hitting an internal link to our office group, he sent it out to this veterans group. The very people he deals with everyday are all veterans. My assumption is, that many if not most, were veterans of the 347 individuals names," Tim Vitale, USU spokesman said.
USU officials said the individuals’ social security numbers and names were included in the email, but no other personal information was released.
Following the incident, USU offered the affected individuals a credit monitoring for the next 12 months at no expense to the students.
"We apologize profusely. This was our mistake. It should not have happened. We are glad we are offering this step to assist them," Vitale said.
The university reiterated that this disclosure was “unintentional human error in which a critical procedure was not followed.” The statement also said proper measures have been taken to update and review procedure with staff.
“The university is committed to maintaining the privacy of student and employee information by continually improving systems and practices to enhance the security of sensitive information,” the press release stated.
Contributing: Lee Lonsberry
