Recently, St. Augustine College confirmed that the school experienced a data breach resulting in the names and Social Security numbers of certain individuals being 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.
St. Augustine College (“St. Augustine”) is a private college with five locations in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1980, St. Augustine was Illinois’ first bilingual institution for higher learning. The school offers 19 different degrees through its School of STEAM, School of Education, and School of Healthcare and Social Science. St. Augustine College’s student body is made up of approximately 1,000 students.
According to an official filing by the college’s lawyers, on August 7, 2021, St. Augustine College detected suspicious activity on its computer system. In response, the school launched an internal investigation to learn more about the nature and scope of the incident. The investigation revealed that an unauthorized user may have accessed or obtained certain files from St. Augustine College’s servers.
Upon confirming that a data breach occurred, St. Augustine College then reviewed the affected files to determine what information was compromised. On February 1, 2022, St. Augustine College confirmed that the names and Social Security numbers of affected parties were accessible to and many have been accessed by the unauthorized party. The St. Augustine data breach is believed to have impacted as many as 13,263 individuals.
On February 24, St. Augustine College 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 St. Augustine, 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 St. Augustine College data breach notification should take the situation seriously and remain vigilant in checking for any signs of unauthorized activity. Businesses like St. Augustine are responsible for protecting the consumer data in their possession. If evidence emerges that St. Augustine failed to adequately protect your sensitive information, you may be eligible for financial compensation through a data breach lawsuit.
When students decided to go to St. Augustine, they assumed that the school would take their privacy concerns seriously. And it goes without saying that anyone would think twice before giving an organization 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 an organization’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 St. Augustine College 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 St. Augustine 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 St. Augustine College, reach out to a data breach attorney as soon as possible.
If St. Augustine College 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:
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.
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.
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 organization 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.
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.
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 St. Augustine College:
Dear [Consumer],
I am writing to inform you of a data security incident experienced by St. Augustine College (“St. Augustine”), that may have involved your personal information. St. Augustine takes the privacy and security of the personal information in our care very seriously. Therefore, we are writing to inform you about the incident and advise you of certain steps you can take to help protect your personal information, and to offer you complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services.
What Happened? On August 7, 2021, St. Augustine detected unusual activity within its digital environment. Upon discovering this activity, we took immediate and active steps to secure our environment and launched an internal investigation. St. Augustine also engaged cybersecurity experts to secure the environment and conduct an investigation to determine whether any personal information may have been impacted. In the course of investigation, St. Augustine determined that certain files stored on the St. Augustine network may have been accessed or acquired by the unknown actor as a result of this incident. St. Augustine then engaged a vendor to review the contents of the impacted systems likely to contain sensitive data. As a result, on February 1, 2022, St. Augustine learned that your personal information may have been impacted. St. Augustine then worked diligently to identify the current address information required to send notification letters.
What Information Was Involved? The information potentially impacted in connection with this incident may have included your name as well as your <>.
What Are We Doing? As soon as St. Augustine discovered the incident, St. Augustine took the steps described above. St. Augustine has also implemented additional safeguards to minimize the chance that an incident like this could occur in the future. Further, St. Augustine reported this matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and will provide whatever assistance is necessary to hold the perpetrator(s) of this incident responsible. St. Augustine is also providing you with information regarding steps that you can take to help protect your personal information.
As an added precaution, St. Augustine is offering a one-year membership to TransUnion Interactive’s myTrueIdentity credit monitoring and identity restoration service at no cost to you. This product provides you with premier credit monitoring and identity theft resolution, including up to $1 million of identity theft insurance coverage.1 The deadline to enroll in these complimentary services is <>.
What You Can Do: Although St. Augustine is not aware of any misuse of information as a result of the incident, St. Augustine encourages you to follow the recommendations on the following page to help protect your personal information. In addition, we recommend that you enroll in the complimentary services being offered through TransUnion. Activation instructions and a description of the services are included with this letter.
For More Information: If you have questions or need assistance, please contact our team at 855-604-1796, Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time, excluding major US holidays. Call center representatives are fully versed on this incident and can answer any questions that you may have regarding this incident or the complimentary services being offered to you.
Protecting your information is important to us. Please know that we take this incident very seriously, and we regret any worry or inconvenience that this may cause you.
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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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