A couple of weeks ago, some people broke into an office at Yale University to steal some computers and sell them for some profit. What these thieves didn’t know was that the computers they stole had over 10,000 social security numbers from past and present students as well as faculty from Yale. Fortunately, it sounds like the systems were password protected (some having multiple levels of passwords), but nonetheless, who knows who will end up with the computers?

NEW HAVEN, Conn. –Two computers stolen from Yale University last month contained the Social Security numbers of about 10,000 current and former students and about 200 faculty and staff members, university officials said Wednesday.

Yale officials said they notified those affected, but have not received any reports that the data on the stolen machines have been misused.

“As it explained in the notification letters, the university does not believe that this incident presents a significant danger of identity theft because the crime was almost certainly aimed at obtaining hardware for sale — not at exploiting the data that were on the computers,” Yale said in a statement. “Moreover, both of the computers were password-protected, and one was protected by multiple password levels, which would require considerable computer savvy to bypass.”

The computers and other electronic equipment were stolen July 17 from the Yale College Dean’s Office. No arrests have been made, said university spokesman Tom Conroy.[more]

Tags: Identity Theft