UGA personnel data posted on web site

By Laura Diamond

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

University of Georgia officials are investigating how personal data on nearly 19,000 employees was publicly available on a university web site since at least 2008.

A university official discovered last week that the information had been accessible to the public and immediately took the data offline, spokesman Tom Jackson said Friday.

The database was created for internal purposes and included the Social Security number, date of birth, employee name and other sensitive information for everyone who was working for the university in 2002. That includes faculty, staff and students who worked for the college, Jackson said.

"We deeply regret this situation and will take steps to notify and support the affected current and former faculty and staff," UGA Chief Information Officer Timothy Chester said in a statement.

UGA is bringing in a third party to review how the information was posted online and suggest how to prevent it from happening again, Jackson said.

Anyone employed at UGA during 2002 should protect themselves from identity theft by using guidelines found at: www.consumer.gov/idtheft.