Stanford Univeristy Data Breach Affects 62,000 Current And Former Employees

Stanford University has announced that a data breach related to the physical theft of a laptop computer has potentially put at risk the identities and social security numbers of 62,000 people currently or previously employed by the university.

Stanford University has provided an extensive FAQ regarding this incident located at: http://www.stanford.edu/privacy/faq/

It is time that institutions of higher learning begin to do more to protect confidential and sensitive personal information they are entrusted with.  There is no excuse for not protecting this type of information with basic technology and security controls such as data encryption.

I wonder how many more incidents like this will happen in universities or colleges before academia realizes they too have a responsibility for protecting personal information with more adequate technological and security controls.