VANCOUVER -- Faculty and staff at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University were informed Monday of a recent data breach that exposed their personal information.
An emailed statement from the school's chief information officer, Mark Roman, said the breach applies to faculty, staff, students, alumni and retirees who joined the university before June 20, 2019.
SFU said it was the victim of a ransomware attack on Feb. 27 after a "weakness" in its system was exposed. The school said the issue was identified and fixed the next day.
"While it does not appear that any SFU Computing accounts have been compromised, changing your password now will significantly mitigate that risk," said Roman.
Some of the personal information that was exposed in the breach includes student and employee ID numbers, first, last and preferred names, birthdays and external email addresses.
"We deeply regret this incident, are working diligently to contain the situation and are committed to helping mitigate the potential risks and harm to our faculty, staff, students, alumni and retirees," said Roman.
Those impacted by the breach have been advised to change their passwords and monitor their personal accounts for any unusual activity over the next several months.
