The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) recently found multiple instances of data breaches Warwick University had experienced that were not reported to the staff, students and volunteers affected.
According to information obtained by Sky News, Warwick University suffered multiple data breaches in 2019 that led to hackers having access to the university’s admin network. However, the university chose to hide it from the students, staff and volunteers who were affected by the breach.
When a staff member at the university installed a remote-viewing software, the system was exploited by hackers allowing them to gain access to confidential information about the students, staff members and volunteers in 2019. It has been reported that due to how poor the university’s security system was at the time, it was impossible to identify what data had been stolen and exactly who had been impacted by the breach.
The Information Commissioner’s Office carried out a data protection audit of Warwick University in March this year and recommended more than 60 method of securing personal data, 15 of which were rated urgent. The Information Commissioner’s Office also found that Warwick University had not mandated information governance training across departments, did not provide data protection training to departments that processed data covered by GDPR, and did not provide additional training to staff who were involved in security incidents.
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