NORFOLK, Neb. - The Technology Services Division at Northeast Community College continues to gather more information from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) regarding a recent security breach involving the MOVEit Transfer tool and the effect of that breach on its college community.
Northeast has been notified by two of the College’s service providers, NSC and TIAA, that certain personally identifiable information and data of some members of the Northeast community may have been impacted by the MOVEit Transfer tool data breach that is affecting millions across the country. Northeast does not use the MOVEit Transfer tool, and no systems operated or maintained by Northeast were breached.
NSC and TIAA have assured Northeast that any member of its college community who is affected will be formally notified directly and provided with information about next steps and whom to contact for inquiries. For those impacted, bear in mind that it is possible that the data in question could have been provided by another institution that uses the services of NSC or TIAA, and they may receive multiple notices.
Safety Precautions to Take Now: This unfortunate situation is a reminder that everyone can take precautionary steps sooner rather than later to protect themselves from data breaches. Regardless of whether their data was exposed in this incident; it is good practice to institute the following steps:
• Frequently review financial accounts. See the FTC’s “Warning Signs of Identity Theft.”
• Check credit reports at annualcreditreport.com.
• Consider placing a credit freeze on credit reports, with each of the three credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
• Students and employees should consider enrolling in an identity theft protection service such as TrueIdentity from TransUnion.
Regarding NSC: NSC provides required compliance reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services to many higher education institutions. NSC shared more information on its website.
Regarding TIAA: TIAA provides investment and insurance services for employees working for many organizations in the nonprofit industry in academic, research, medical, government, and cultural fields. TIAA has informed Northeast that the incident involves PBI, a vendor that TIAA uses for verifying death notices and uses the MOVEit Transfer tool. PBI will be sending direct notices to those impacted and offering two years of credit monitoring at no cost.
Technology Services is leading the team at Northeast that is actively assessing and monitoring the situation. When there is new information, it will be communicated further.
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