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ARTICLE · 05 NOVEMBER 2009

Educational Institutions Must Try To Protect Students' Personal Information

Duane Morris LLP
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Not surprisingly, educational institutions possess all sorts of private data with respect to their students. However, a bit more surprising is how easy it is for the privacy of that data to be compromised.

United StatesMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Eric Sinrod
Eric Sinrod
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Reprinted with permission from FindLaw.com

Not surprisingly, educational institutions possess all sorts of private data with respect to their students. However, a bit more surprising is how easy it is for the privacy of that data to be compromised.

For example, the Washington Post recently reported that personal information relating to in excess of 103,000 former adult education students in Virginia was misplaced. That information included Social Security numbers, as well as employment and demographic details.

How did that happen? It was fairly simple, actually. A Virginia Education Department employee reportedly passed on a two-gigabyte flash drive during a meeting for use as part of federally mandated research. Unfortunately, the flash drive was not encrypted and it went missing the day after the physical transfer. The lost flash drive reportedly contained private information for all students who completed an adult education course between April 2007 and

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