Georgia Tech data breach exposes information of up to 1.3M people

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Georgia Tech is working to repair the damage created by a cybersecurity breach that may have exposed personal information for up to 1.3 million current and prospective students, faculty, staff and more.

According to a release by the school, in late March Georgia Tech discovered that "an unknown outside entity" was using one of the school's web applications to access a database containing personal information.

School officials said the impacted application was immediately corrected, but not before the entity gained access to information on up to 1.3 million people.

Those affected include current and former faculty, students, staff, and student applicants. The information stolen could include names, addresses, social security numbers, and birth dates.

“It’s pretty scary knowing that someone just got all of that information," said Rajiv Nair, a Georgia Tech student. He pointed out the irony in a data breach at a top technical institute. “The reputation that Georgia Tech has in the country for being one of the top tech schools, I’d think that they'd have all the security for us, but I guess they don’t.”

Other students brushed off news of the hack, putting their trust in school officials to guide their next appropriate steps.

“I’m a student, I don’t have a lot of money in the bank, so there’s nothing for you to steal," student May Iyer laughed. "I’m broke anyway. I guess for people with more to lose it’s a bigger deal.”

Officials said the school's cybersecurity team now investigating who the breach has affected and what information could have been stolen.

The school has already notified the U.S. Department of Education and the University System of Georgia.

Anyone affected by the breach will be contacted as soon as possible for information involving crediting monitoring.

"Georgia Tech is committed to the privacy and security of its personal data and deeply regrets the potential impact on those affected," a spokesperson for the school said in the release.