Skip to main content

NUS email sent with wrong attachment resulting in a massive leak of confidential data of its alumni!


A breach in data security at the NUS Career Centre on 1 April 2009 was recently reported in the news.

An email was sent to some 900 alumni of the National University of Singapore (NUS) inviting them to a recruitment event. However this email inadvertently included an Excel spreadsheet with information of about 16,000 alumni graduating between 1993 and 2008 with First Class and Second Upper Honours.

What transpired was that the staff who sent the email attached the Excel spreadsheet to perform a 'mail merge' function, however the staff forgot to delete the Excel spreadsheet before the email was sent out. This spreadsheet contained names, faculties, degrees conferred, year of graduation, contact numbers, mailing and email addresses of the alumni who were affected!

Upon detecting the slipup, the staff responsible for the security lapse immediately recalled the email, but this recall could not be achieved in totality.

NUS immediately followed up by sending an email to the recipients to apologise for the oversight and for any anxiety and inconvenience caused. All recipients were asked to disregard the confidential file and not further circulate or use it. It was also understood that the staff responsible for the oversight has been counselled and disciplined.

This incident, described as an isolated incident prompted NUS to embark on a university-wide review on information security.

What happens to our top universities here? National Technology University has seen a couple of suicide and accident cases involving 3 of its Electrical Engineering students and staff; the most notable one being the case of David Widjaja. On the other hand, NUS now also has its internal problem of data security breach.

Some academic experts have warned that the latest data security breach could mar the reputation of NUS as one of the world’s foremost universities in its bid to enter the league of top world-class universities.

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Particulars of past graduates have been shared by scores of people. It is only fair that the NUS staff responsible for the leak be named as well.
Sat Apr 25, 05:06:00 PM GMT+8
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vernon Leong Jun Wei

What happens to the 31 year old bride groom, Vernon Leong Jun Wei? As the news of this latest unnatural and bizzare death developed, it seemed that Vernon did not jump from the 24th storey of Hilton Hotel as was believed earlier. There were 3 video camera footages which might prove otherwises for the cause of Vernon's death. The first video footage showed Vernon at the 24th storey, making his way hurriedly into the fire escape staircase. The next video footage showed Vernon at the 2nd storey which also holds some shops and the final footage showed an unconscious Vernon motionless at the ground of the hotel. Vernon was cladded casually in a T-shirt and pants and have left his hotel room while his wife was taking a shower. It seemed that he might be escaping from something or somebody or that he might be chasing after something or somebody. What did Vernon see and experience at his last moments? The police is still investigating the case. It is really a very tragical and sad
Post a Comment
Read more

Kampong Lorong Buangkok

Amidst the blazing afternoon sun today, my Dear and I made our way to Kampong Lorong Buangkok. The visit was a timely one as there is such a high buzz being generated over the last kampong in modern Singapore. After alighting from Bus 854 from Eunos, it was not difficult to find our way to the kampong. The entrance of the kampong was distinct as you could see from the picture: the 'ulu-ness' (rural charm) is evident from the attap-roofed buildings and more unkempt conditions. A signboard with hand-written text welcome my Dear and I to the last kampong in Singapore: As we entered the kampong, I spotted a middle-aged woman talking to an old man. I had seen the old woman before on TV. She was none other than the owner of the kampong land. In the documentary, I learnt that the whole kampong land was passed to her by her late father. She has kept the land and have not gone on to sell the land to the government. If she were to sell the land, she would be an instant multi-millionair
Post a Comment
Read more

Performance Bonus

It is the time of the year civil servants receive their performance bonuses (PBs). In the coming two weeks, civil servants will not only receive their performance bonuses, special ‘growth bonuses’, would also await them for the very first time. These PBs and growth bonuses are only applicable to performers, defined as officers with assessed performance gradings above the ‘D’ grade. Typically, civil servants receive their performance bonuses in March, a 0.5 month of bonus in July and a 13th month plus AVC in December. Are all the bonuses good? To be frank, the bonuses dished out in Civil Service are averages at best. With the various bonuses being given out in these months: July, December and March, a civil servant who would like to quit would most likely try to find a ‘suitable’ month to quit so as not to forfeit his bonuses. The December bonus is generally the most generous portion. To quantify for this bonus, an officer would have to be in service till the end of January ne
1 comment
Read more