The University of Missouri was recently affected by one of the most impressive hack attempts that managed to steal no more than 22.396 social security numbers. It seems that the hacker broke into the university computer and discovered private information about the students, ex-employees and the current staff of the campus. The attackers left evidence of their connections, some of them being identified in China and Australia. STL today reported that the university spokesman Scott Charton sustained there are no reported cases of identity theft but all the affected persons must minimize the risks. According to the report, 8.793 of the current employees were already announced about the successful exploit through email messages, the university struggling to send letters to all affected persons.

The university also created a hot line to inform people about the exploitation, the entire phone system being heavily used by potential affected users. However, the university encourages the victims to call between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m, the same source reported.

In the recent period, there were a lot of hack attempts reported, more and more hackers being attracted by the universities and the high-schools from all around the world. These institutions are quite attractive for the attackers because their computers contain a lot of private information about the students as well as staff or ex-employees. Most of the hackers are looking to obtain sensitive details from the attacked computers and use the information in future hack attacks to hide their identity.

At this time, there is no 100 percent efficient application as a single vulnerability in a tiny product can make a computer open to attacks. These days, the security companies from all around the world reported flaws in all types of products, the audio players being one category of targeted programs.