Bluefield University (BU) is a private Baptist college in Virginia, offering only 22 majors on an 82-acre campus. In May, BU suffered a cybersecurity breach, including over 23,000 records.
BU’s breach was an external system event, exposing some of their stored data. How the unauthorized party was able to enter and extract data is unclear. Like other universities targeted by cybercriminals, little information is made public about the event.
BU’s Notice of Data Breach says the event started around April 29th. Officials discovered the event around May 1st, with the event ending a few days later, around May 11th. Investigations began immediately and concluded in late October. A month later, around November 27th, officials began notifying impacted parties.
It is unclear who the breach will impact; anyone associated with BU may have had their data stolen by the threat, including students, staff, faculty, vendors, and alumni. Further, officials may need additional time to notify the impacted parties due to the significant impact figure.
The breach filing published on the Maine Attorney General’s website lists 23,195 victims. Those with any association with BU, past or present, must consider preventative and defensive options.