<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Data of 15,000 NUS alumni leaked
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Security beefed up after staff sends e-mail with sensitive info attached </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Weizhen
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->COMPUTER security is being beefed up across the National University of Singapore (NUS) after sensitive data of more than 15,000 alumni members was leaked in an e-mail.
On April1, the NUS Career Centre sent an e-mail to about 450 NUS alumni, all of whom graduated last year, to invite them to a job recruitment fair.
But the staff member accidentally attached a file full of personal information, such as home addresses, subject majors and phone numbers of 15,794 alumni members.
This group comprises all those who graduated between 1993 and last year with a first-class or second-upper honours degree.
The Straits Times understands that this staff member had been working from an old e-mail, using it as a template. However, she neglected to remove the file attachment that was in the e-mail before sending it out.
Realising her error, she immediately tried to recall the e-mail, but only managed to retrieve some of the messages.
Due to the incident, the university is starting a review on information security across all campuses to 'evaluate the safeguards that are in place for secure communication and exchange of information, either within or outside NUS', said Professor Tan Eng Chye, deputy president of academic affairs and provost.
The university is taking no chances and is implementing several processes: Personal or confidential information in all its databases will be password-protected.
The passwords will be revealed to the recipients only verbally or via text messages.
'In addition, all future e-mail announcements to stakeholder groups will be proofread by at least two staff before they are sent,' added Associate Professor Tan Teck Koon, dean of students at the Office of Student Affairs.
This is not the first time a leak at NUS has occurred. In December last year, examination results were also released ahead of time, owing to a technical glitch.
Since the latest incident, NUS staff have been advised to use other transmission means before sending large files of restricted information over the Internet.
The staff member responsible for the error has been 'counselled and disciplined'.
'A few alumni members have contacted us regarding the incident and we have addressed their concerns,'said Prof Tan Teck Koon.
Past students whose names are on the list fear that their information could be sold to illegal syndicates, banks and insurance companies.
Mr Dave Tan, 30, who works in investor relations in the financial industry, feels the leak could expose him to 'scammers and prank calls', or worse, identity theft.
'Banks and insurance companies routinely buy such information, and they will especially want to target this list as it most likely includes high fliers,' he said.
Ms Michelle Cheong, 39, a lecturer at Singapore Management University, similarly expects to get calls from salesmen.
'But I guess I would only get angry when this happens,' said Ms Tan, who graduated in 1993 in mechanical engineering.
Internet security firm Trend Micro said such problems are exacerbated as e-mail volumes go up.
'A typical e-mail user sends 41 e-mail messages during a normal work day. Consider that most of these communications and files are sent without any form of monitoring, encryption or control,' said a spokesman for Trendlabs of Trend Micro.
He added that the top security issues Singaporeans face are identity theft, credit-card fraud and spam. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Security beefed up after staff sends e-mail with sensitive info attached </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Weizhen
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->COMPUTER security is being beefed up across the National University of Singapore (NUS) after sensitive data of more than 15,000 alumni members was leaked in an e-mail.
On April1, the NUS Career Centre sent an e-mail to about 450 NUS alumni, all of whom graduated last year, to invite them to a job recruitment fair.
But the staff member accidentally attached a file full of personal information, such as home addresses, subject majors and phone numbers of 15,794 alumni members.
This group comprises all those who graduated between 1993 and last year with a first-class or second-upper honours degree.
The Straits Times understands that this staff member had been working from an old e-mail, using it as a template. However, she neglected to remove the file attachment that was in the e-mail before sending it out.
Realising her error, she immediately tried to recall the e-mail, but only managed to retrieve some of the messages.
Due to the incident, the university is starting a review on information security across all campuses to 'evaluate the safeguards that are in place for secure communication and exchange of information, either within or outside NUS', said Professor Tan Eng Chye, deputy president of academic affairs and provost.
The university is taking no chances and is implementing several processes: Personal or confidential information in all its databases will be password-protected.
The passwords will be revealed to the recipients only verbally or via text messages.
'In addition, all future e-mail announcements to stakeholder groups will be proofread by at least two staff before they are sent,' added Associate Professor Tan Teck Koon, dean of students at the Office of Student Affairs.
This is not the first time a leak at NUS has occurred. In December last year, examination results were also released ahead of time, owing to a technical glitch.
Since the latest incident, NUS staff have been advised to use other transmission means before sending large files of restricted information over the Internet.
The staff member responsible for the error has been 'counselled and disciplined'.
'A few alumni members have contacted us regarding the incident and we have addressed their concerns,'said Prof Tan Teck Koon.
Past students whose names are on the list fear that their information could be sold to illegal syndicates, banks and insurance companies.
Mr Dave Tan, 30, who works in investor relations in the financial industry, feels the leak could expose him to 'scammers and prank calls', or worse, identity theft.
'Banks and insurance companies routinely buy such information, and they will especially want to target this list as it most likely includes high fliers,' he said.
Ms Michelle Cheong, 39, a lecturer at Singapore Management University, similarly expects to get calls from salesmen.
'But I guess I would only get angry when this happens,' said Ms Tan, who graduated in 1993 in mechanical engineering.
Internet security firm Trend Micro said such problems are exacerbated as e-mail volumes go up.
'A typical e-mail user sends 41 e-mail messages during a normal work day. Consider that most of these communications and files are sent without any form of monitoring, encryption or control,' said a spokesman for Trendlabs of Trend Micro.
He added that the top security issues Singaporeans face are identity theft, credit-card fraud and spam. [email protected]
