14 DAY TRIAL // A data breach was announced by the We End Violence group, affecting around 80,000 Cal State University (CSU) students enrolled in a sexual harassment non-credit class.
The announcement was made on the Agent of Change website, where university students were taking an online class on sexual violence and harassment, provided by We End Violence.
We End Violence is a US-based educational non-profit that provides educational campaigns, lectures, performances, workshops, and training in various topics that deal with violence of any kind.
According to initial reports, only students in eight CSU campuses were affected. These campuses are Cal Poly Pomona, Channel Islands, Los Angeles, Maritime Academy, Northridge, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Sonoma.
CSU provided a fast response to the data breach
As We End Violence is reporting, the data breach was first detected on August 24, and by August 26, the website was shut down to prevent any other intrusions.
Students were informed by Thursday, August 27, and the university sent out a mass email to all students the following day, urging them to be wary of any phishing campaigns, and also immediately change their passwords for their university-related accounts.
In the data breach, students had the following information exposed: name, student ID number, personal email address, CSU-issued email address, the student's Agent of Change username, the user's Agent of Change password, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, relationship status, sexual identity, the user's college or university.
No financial or credit card details were leaked in the incident
No financial information was leaked because it was not stored or needed in the first place.
Los Angeles Times reports that Cal State University hired a forensics firm to investigate the breach alongside We End Violence.
LA Times was told by a source inside the university that the breach occurred thanks to a "vulnerability in the underlying code." No other details were provided.