SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The information of faculty and students were compromised following a data breach at Skidmore College which is located in Saratoga Springs.
“Students and employees are now having to take their personal time to clean up the mess that was not of their making” said William B Federman, managing partner at Federman & Sherwood Law Firm.
The firm has filed a class action lawsuit representing anywhere from 12,100 to 121,000 people —who are either staff or students at Skidmore College — that were victims of a data breach this past February. The law firm says it needs more information from Skidmore to have a concrete tally of those affected.
Skidmore College says the ransomware breach encrypted a small percentage of faculty and staff file sharing systems, as well as business and financial files.
In an email, the college added that following a review they were able to pin down and notify the people whose information was potentially compromised. According to the Skidmore Public Relations Department, there is no evidence that any information was used in identity theft or fraud.
As for what you can do if your information was compromised? The private college says they are providing a two-year complimentary membership to Experian Identity Works Protection Service to those affected.
William B Federman added that Skidmore College failed to adequately secure student information and that their two-year complementary subscription to identity and protection services is too short and not comprehensive enough.
“It should be credit monitoring, credit protection. It should provide the individuals with an officer or somebody who will take the time to clean this mess up…” the lawyer proposed
Federman says he anticipates Skidmore college will fight the lawsuit and not settle. He says he’s read for the legal battle, due to the damage control the affected have had to endure.
“The time you as an affected person is now spending to follow up with your banks, your payment, card, companies, your mortgage company, call the police, file a police report, freeze your credit…” says William Federman.
The law firm has not yet given a concrete dollar amount on how much they are suing for, simply asking….how much is your information worth?
