The University of Maryland has lengthened the amount of time that it will provide credit monitoring services to students and staff who were affected by a large data breach.
The university had originally said it would offer one year of protection. Now, the school says it will offer five years of the service.
The announcement came in a letter from UMD President Wallace Loh Tuesday, just after a hotline opened to help students and staff determine if they were affected by the breach.
Last week, the university announced the records of more than 300,000 faculty members and students dating back to 1998 were compromised in a data breach. According to a letter from Loh, the breached records included names, social security numbers, dates of birth and the university ID numbers of staff members and students affiliated with the university's College Park and Shady Grove campuses.
Loh said the data breach did not include financial, academic, health or contact information.
Tuesday, the university directed those who feared they may have been affected to call credit monitoring company Experian at 1-866-274-3891 to find out if their records were among those compromised. All those affected could then sign up for five free years of Experian's Protect My ID credit protection.
Many are interested in the service, but it remains to be seen how hard it will be to actually register.
In a statement posted on the university's website, school officials said: "We have learned that Experian is having technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience. This continues to be a top priority, and Experian is working diligently to remedy the situation. We will update you as soon as the matter is resolved."
The university said callers should hold off until the issue is resolved or try calling Tuesday afternoon.
If you have additional questions about the breach, call 301-405-4440 or email datasecurity@umd.edu. The university has also set up a webpage for information on the breach, which includes tips to protect yourself and the numbers of credit monitoring services.
