The Social Security numbers of 19 special events employees were leaked in an e-mail sent by another Ball State employee on Jan. 27, Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for marketing and communications, said in a press release.
The incident occurred because the 19 special events employees mistakenly put their Social Security numbers in a column designated for Ball State ID numbers, Proudfoot said. Special events employees, whose jobs include assisting during events as ushers or referees, were sent the e-mail to verify payroll contact information. Of the 91 employees who received the e-mail, only 19 submitted Social Security numbers instead of Ball State ID numbers.
Within minutes one of the affected employees replied to the e-mail alerting the university of the problem, and the university "immediately" went into action, Proudfoot said. University Computing Services was contacted and then proceeded to retract and delete the e-mails, he said.
"This is a unique and rare event," Proudfoot said. "It's the first time it's ever happened. As soon as we realized the situation, the university acted swiftly and it really reflects how seriously we take private information of our faculty and staff as well as students."
The university immediately took several steps to fix the leak.
According to the press release, the university notified the disclosed employees and gave guidance on how to guard against identity theft. It also offered to reimburse the individuals for any possible identity theft during the next year.
All 91 employees were directed to delete all information regarding the revealed identities and were urged not to give information regarding the incident out to anyone for any reason.
In the press release, Proudfoot said payroll will no longer include Social Security numbers but will rely on Ball State ID numbers for identification.
Proudfoot said the university informed the Attorney General's Office of the incident in order to follow Indiana state law regarding accidental security breaches. He said the office will review the case and turn it over to the county prosecutor, who will decide if the steps Ball State took are sufficient.
Randy Howard, associate vice president of finance and assistant treasurer, was also concerned with the university's actions to remedy the fiasco. He said the university was still waiting on an answer from the Attorney General's Office regarding how the university handled the incident.
"We deeply regret the incident and any challenges or inconvenience it caused," Howard said. "It is my hope that our employees will be encouraged not only by the unique and limited nature of the incident, but also by the swift action the university has taken to assist those affected and ensure this cannot happen again."
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