The University of North Florida (UNF) has sent 106,884 emails to student applicants, fearing that their personal details were stolen by an overseas hacker in late September.
The university did not explain what type of attack it came under, however it said that the intruder gained access to a server containing "a confidential file of information" on every student that had applied there since 2007.
"While we have no proof that confidential information was stolen, the University is taking the precautionary measure of distributing a letter and e-mail notification to those individuals whose information was in the file," it said.
The University feared that the security breach may have also been targeted at acquiring some of its computing power to launch attacks on other computer or networks.
"It is possible the intruder's intent was to either disrupt normal business or use the computer's processing power to launch similar attacks on other computers."
It said that 52,853 names and social security numbers were compromised as well as 54,031 names and dates of birth were compromised.
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iTnews State of Security Breakfast Sydney
iTnews Executive Retreat - Security Leaders Edition - VIC
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