Frequently asked questions (SA)

• What do I need to do if I think my personal information has been exposed?
• How do I access the free credit monitoring the University is providing?
• Who was affected?
• What personally identifiable information was stored on the hard drive?
• Why did the University have my data?
• Are these data files still residing in the Office of Student Affairs?
• If my information was among the compromised data, does this mean that I'm a victim of identity theft?
• How will I know if any of my personal information was used by someone else?
• What is the University doing to protect personal information now?
• What steps are you taking to improve the security of personal information on campus computers?
• Where are letters mailed to students? Home address or local address?
• When should someone expecting a letter for the free credit monitoring notify the University if the letter has not arrived? That is, how long should one wait for the letter?
• What is the University doing now to ensure all sensitive information is encrypted and passworded?
• I have been affected and live overseas. I do not have any financial assets/bank accounts in the U.S. Can I still receive free credit monitoring and fraud alerts? (Also applies to those not impacted who live overseas.)
• Will the University Contact me?
• Who do I contact?
• When is the last day of enrollment for the free credit monitoring service? 


Q: What do I need to do if I think my personal information has been exposed?
A: At this time we have no evidence that personal data has been misused. As a precaution, however, you may want to place a fraud alert on your credit reporting accounts. You can do this free of charge through the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. A fraud alert lets creditors know to contact you before opening new accounts, which protects you against the possibility that someone could open an account in your name without your knowledge.

Credit Bureau Information

Equifax, 888-766-0008, http://www.equifax.com

Experian, 888-397-3742, http://www.experian.com

TransUnion, 800-680-7289, http://www.transunion.com

Q: How do I access the free credit monitoring the University is providing?
A: Georgetown has finalized the arrangements with Experian to make 12 months of free credit monitoring services available to individuals impacted by this incident. Details have been sent to those individuals via hard mailing.  The deadline date to enroll in this service has been extended to August 22, 2008. 

Q: Who was affected?
A: Approximately 38,000 current and former students, faculty and staff from 1998 through 2006 (calendar years). The group includes approximately 7,700 current students from the Main, Medical and Law Center campuses, 26,000 Georgetown alumni and 600 current or former faculty and staff. The balance have a combination of multiple student, staff or other affiliations.

If you are currently an active faculty or staff member or student and were impacted, you have already been sent an email notification to your Georgetown email account. If you are an active faculty or staff member or a student, or if you are an alumnus and have not received an email notification and Georgetown has your valid email address, it is very unlikely that you are impacted by this incident. If you are an alumnus you may contact the Office of Advancement at (202) 687-2338 to confirm whether or not your information was on the hard drive.

If you are a current student or current or former faculty or staff member you may contact the Office of Information Security at (202) 687-3031.

All those affected should have received a hard copy mailing with details about the incident, steps to follow in order to protect your identity, and directions on how to sign up for free credit monitoring service.  If you have not received this letter but believe you are affected by this incident, please contact the University Information Security Office at 202-687-3031.

Q: What personally identifiable information was stored on the hard drive?
A: The personally identifiable information stored on the hard drive included names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers (SSNs). Neither financial account numbers, including bank and credit card numbers, nor health records were on the drive.

Q: Why did the University have my data?
A: The University’s Office of Student Affairs maintains student fee data on students from all three Center campuses (Main, Law, Medical).

Q: Are these data files still residing in the Office of Student Affairs?
A: The data files in the Office of Student Affairs have been destroyed. A copy of the files, for investigative purposes, is secured and maintained in the security office.


Q: If my information was among the compromised data, does this mean that I'm a victim of identity theft?
A: No. The fact that someone may have had access to your information doesn't mean you are a victim of identity theft or that the intruder intended to commit fraud or otherwise make any use of the information. We wanted to let you know about the incident so that you can take appropriate steps to protect yourself from the possibility of such action.


Q: How will I know if any of my personal information was used by someone else?
A: The best way to find out if someone has attempted to use your information is to obtain your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). If you notice accounts on your credit report that you did not open or applications for credit ("inquiries") that you did not make, these could be indications that someone else is using your personal information, without your permission.

Q: What is the University doing to protect personal information now?
A: The University Information Services department is leading a number of efforts to secure personally identifiable information. These efforts include a Departmental Risk Assessment program and a Secure Laptop and Secure Computing Environment program. We are also scanning faculty and staff PCs and laptops for this type of information and eliminating it completely where its use is not absolutely necessary. This department is also enhancing information security awareness efforts across the University community, empowering all faculty and staff to be vigilant in protecting personal and sensitive information on their computers. We also stress the importance of using the University’s NetID identification code in lieu of personally identifiable information.


Q: What steps are you taking to improve the security of personal information on campus computers?

A: Georgetown University continues to take information security very seriously, and diligently works to ensure that all of our policies and procedures adhere to industry standards and best practices with regard to data and personal information in university information systems. Like most major research institutions, we are redoubling our efforts to assure that all protected information in university information systems is managed in a secure manner. The university will continue to aggressively pursue these efforts.


Q: Where are letters mailed to students? Home address or local address?
A: All notification letters for students will be mailed to the local address students have on file with the University as well as their permananet listed address.

Q:When should someone expecting a letter for the free credit monitoring notify the University if the letter has not arrived? That is, how long should one wait for the letter?
A: The letter was mailed on February 12. If you have not received a letter, please send an e-mail to identity@georgetown.edu. The University Information Security Office will be able to verify your name and address and give you the procedures for signing up for the free credit monitoring service.

Q:What is the University doing now to ensure all sensitive information is encrypted and passworded?
A: This can be answered in the question above titled “What steps are you taking to improve the security of personal information on campus computers?”

Q: I have been affected and live overseas. I do not have any financial assets/bank accounts in the U.S. Can I still receive free credit monitoring and fraud alerts? (Also applies to those not impacted who live overseas.)
A: All U.S. citizens are eligible for free annual credit reports, credit monitoring and free fraud alerts through one of the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion whether they live in the U.S. or overseas. If you are a U.S. citizen living overseas, you can follow the guidelines for protecting your identity on identity.georgetown.edu.

Note: If you are not able to access the ConsumerInfo.com website to set up your free credit monitoring service, it may be because you are using a computer without a US url address.  You also may not be able to set up free credit monitoring if you do not have a valid U.S. address.  For help, please contact the Experian office in your area.   

If you believe you are a victim of identity theft, the best resource for you is your U.S. consulate.

Q: Will the University Contact me?
A: Individuals whose data may have been compromised have been notified by the University via hard copy letter. The letter provides the steps you need to take to prevent possible fraud or identity theft. Georgetown will not initiate telephone calls to you regarding this issue, and the University will never ask for your full SSN, credit card or bank information unless you first ask us to do so. We recommend that you do not release personal information to anyone over the phone or via mail unless you initiated the contact and are confident of the identification of the other party.

You may also reach us by e-mail at identity@georgetown.edu. Never include your SSN or date of birth in any e-mail correspondence.

Q: When is the last day of enrollment for the free credit monitoring service?

A: All individuals affected by this incident have until May 15, 2008 to enroll in the free credit monitoring service.  If you need your unique activation code, a requirement to sign up for this service, please contact the University Information Security Office at 202-687-3031.

Q: Who do I contact?

A: For inquiries about this data theft incident, please contact the University Information Security Office at 202-687-3031.

If you need to update your mailing address with the alumni office, please send an e-mail with complete address information to the Office of Advancement at alumnirelations@georgetown.edu.

Updated May 20, 2008.