Recently, Manhattan School of Music confirmed that the school experienced a data security incident resulting from an unauthorized party gaining access to an employee’s email account. As a result, the sensitive information of 6,500 individuals was compromised. The data breach lawyers at Console & Associates, P.C. are going to begin interviewing victims of the breach to determine what damages they sustained and what legal claims may be available to them. If you recently learned your information was compromised in the recent breach, reaching out to a data breach lawyer is the first step to understanding all of your options.
Manhattan School of Music (“MSM”) is a music conservatory located in New York City, NT., The School focuses on classical music, jazz and musical theater. MSM offers the following degrees: Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, Doctor of Musical Arts, Professional Studies Certificate, and Artist Diploma. The student body consists of 961 students from 38 states and 46 countries.
According to a letter sent to those impacted by the recent breach, the Manhattan School of Music learned of suspicious activity regarding an employee’s email account on June 17, 2021. The School then launched an internal investigation to learn more about the incident. Subsequently, the Manhattan School of Music confirmed that between April 17, 2021 and June 17, 2021, an unauthorized party gained access to the employee’s email account.
Upon learning of the security breach, Manhattan School of Music then reviewed the affected employee’s email account to determine what consumer information may have been compromised. The School completed this process on November 23, 2021. While the compromised information varies by consumer, it may include affected parties’ names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and financial account information. The Manhattan School of Music data breach is believed to have affected as many as 6,500 people.
February 18, 2022, Manhattan School of Music began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was contained in the affected files.
Often, data breaches are the result of a hacker gaining unauthorized access to an organization’s computer systems with the intention of obtaining sensitive consumer information. While no one can know the reason why a hacker targeted Manhattan School of Music, it is common for hackers and other criminals to identify those companies believed to have weak data security systems or vulnerabilities in their networks.
Once a cybercriminal gains access to a computer network, they can then access and remove any data stored on the compromised servers. While in most cases an organization experiencing a data breach can identify which files were accessible, there may be no way for the organization to tell which files the hacker actually accessed or whether they removed any data.
While the fact that your information was compromised in a data breach does not necessarily mean it will be used for criminal purposes, being the victim of a data breach puts your sensitive data in the hands of an unauthorized person. As a result, you are at an increased risk of identity theft and other frauds, and criminal use of your information is a possibility that should not be ignored.
Given this reality, individuals who receive a Manhattan School of Music data breach notification should take the situation seriously and remain vigilant in checking for any signs of unauthorized activity. Businesses like Manhattan School of Music are responsible for protecting the consumer data in their possession. If evidence emerges that Manhattan School of Music failed to adequately protect your sensitive information, you may be eligible for financial compensation through a data breach lawsuit.
When students decided to attend Manhattan School of Music, they assumed that the school would take their privacy concerns seriously. And it goes without saying that students would think twice before giving a school access to their information if they knew it wasn’t going to be secure. Thus, data breaches such as this one raise questions about the adequacy of a school’s data security system.
When a business, government entity, non-profit organization, school, or any other organization accepts and stores consumer data, it also accepts a legal obligation to ensure this information remains private. The United States data breach laws allow consumers to pursue civil data breach claims against organizations that fail to protect their information.
Of course, given the recency of the Manhattan School of Music data breach, the investigation into the incident is still in its early stages. And, as of right now, there is not yet any evidence suggesting Manhattan School of Music is legally responsible for the breach. However, that could change as additional information about the breach and its causes is revealed.
If you have questions about your ability to bring a data breach class action lawsuit against Manhattan School of Music, reach out to a data breach attorney as soon as possible.
If Manhattan School of Music sends you a data breach notification letter, you are among those whose information was compromised in the recent breach. While this isn’t a time to panic, the situation warrants your attention. Below are a few important steps you can take to protect yourself from identity theft and other fraudulent activity:
1.) Identify What Information Was Compromised
The first thing to do after learning of a data breach is to carefully review the data breach letter sent. The letter will tell you what information of yours was accessible to the unauthorized party. Be sure to make a copy of the letter and keep it for your records. If you have trouble understanding the letter or what steps you can take to protect yourself, a data breach lawyer can help.
2.) Limit Future Access to Your Accounts
Once you determine what information of yours was affected by the breach, the safest play is to assume that the hacker orchestrating the attack stole your data. While this may not be the case, it’s better to be safe than sorry. To prevent future access to your accounts, you should change all passwords and security questions for any online account. This includes online banking accounts, credit card accounts, online shopping accounts, and any other account containing your personal information. You should also consider changing your social media account passwords and setting up multi-factor authentication where it is available.
3.) Protect Your Credit and Your Financial Accounts
After a data breach, companies often provide affected parties with free credit monitoring services. Signing up for the free credit monitoring offers some significant protections and doesn’t impact any of your rights to pursue a data breach lawsuit against the school if it turns out they were legally responsible for the breach. You should contact a credit bureau to request a copy of your credit report—even if you do not notice any signs of fraud or unauthorized activity. Adding a fraud alert to your account will provide you with additional protection.
4.) Consider Implementing a Credit Freeze
A credit freeze prevents anyone from accessing your credit report. Credit freezes are free and stay in effect until you remove them. Once a credit freeze is in place, you can temporarily lift the freeze if you need to apply for any type of credit. While placing a credit freeze on your accounts may seem like overkill, given the risks involved, it’s justified. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (“ITRC”), placing a credit freeze on your account is the “single most effective way to prevent a new credit/financial account from being opened.” However, just 3% of data breach victims place a freeze on their accounts.
5.) Regularly Monitor Your Credit Report and Financial Accounts
Protecting yourself in the wake of a data breach requires an ongoing effort on your part. You should regularly check your credit report and all financial account statements, looking for any signs of unauthorized activity or fraud. You should also call your banks and credit card companies to report the fact that your information was compromised in a data breach.
Below is a copy of the initial data breach letter issued by the Manhattan School of Music (the actual notice sent to consumers can be found here):
Dear [Consumer],
Manhattan School of Music (“MSM”) is writing to inform you of a recent incident which may impact some of your information. The confidentiality, privacy and security of information in MSM’s care is one of its highest priorities and MSM takes this incident very seriously. We are providing you with information about the event, our response, and steps you may take to better protect your information, should you feel it is appropriate to do so.
What Happened? MSM discovered suspicious activity related to an employee’s email account. MSM immediately launched an investigation with the assistance of third-party computer forensic specialists. This investigation determined that there was unauthorized access to certain MSM email accounts on separate occasions between April 17, 2021 and June 17, 2021. Upon learning this information, MSM undertook a lengthy and comprehensive process to review the contents of those accounts to determine whether they contained any sensitive information. MSM then conducted an additional review in order to identify contact information for potentially impacted individuals. That process completed on November 23, 2021.
What Information Was Involved? Although we are unaware of any actual or attempted misuse of your information, we are notifying you because certain information related to you was contained within the impacted email accounts. The impacted information relating to you includes your <>.
What We Are Doing. MSM takes the confidentiality and security of information very seriously. We promptly worked to investigate this incident and took steps to secure our email system. We also implemented additional security measures and we are reviewing and enhancing existing policies and procedures to reduce the likelihood of a similar future event. Although you may already monitor your credit through your bank or credit card provider, as an added precaution, we are providing you with access to one year of complimentary identity monitoring services through Kroll. As we are not able to activate these services on your behalf, please review the “Steps You Can Take to Help Protect Your Information” section for instructions on how to activate these services.
What You Can Do. We encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. We also encourage you to review the “Steps You Can Take to Help Protect Your Information” section of this letter.
For More Information. If you have additional questions, please call 1-???-???-????, Monday through Friday, between 9:00 am and 6:30 pm Eastern Time, excluding some U.S. holidays.
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DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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