Call to Learn If Hackers Swiped Your Data in UMD Case

If you are among the thousands of University of Maryland faculty, staff and students whose personal information may have been collected by hackers, you can check with a credit service to see if your data has been used.

Starting Feb. 25, the credit monitoring firm Experian began telling people if their records were compromised by the theft, reports the Baltimore Business Journal.

Last week the University of Maryland learned a computer security attack breached a database that contains personal information about more than 300,000 faculty, staff, and students who have been issued a university ID since 1998.

The database has information from the College Park and Shady Grove campuses. The records include name, Social Security number, date of birth and university identification number.

Late last week the university said the Secret Service was aiding in the investigation of the theft, the Business Journal says.

Those people who fear they may have had their personal data stolen can find out directly if their credit has been hit. The contact phone number for Experian is 866-274-3891. The university contact phone number is 301-405-4440. The university has also created a data security page on its website with information and updates on the theft.

Those interested in a free year of credit protection must register for the service by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 31, says CBS DC.