Fresno State data breach exposes personal information of 15,000 people

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno State says that the personal information data of about 15,000 people may have been exposed after a hard drive was stolen.

In a news release, the university says that the external drive contained information on former student-athletes, sports-camp attendees, and Athletic Corporation employees. The data files may have contained names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, full or last four digits of Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, usernames and passwords, health-insurance numbers and personal health information.

The vast majority of data files were from 2003 to 2014. About 300 of the affected people are still currently affiliated with the University.

The university says the drive was one of the items stolen from a campus building. That crime was first reported on January 12th and a police investigation began immediately after.

Notification of people affected by the data breach began this week. The University said it needed the time to verify the extent of the breach and identify the people whose information may have been exposed.

Many of the people that had their data potentially compromised were contacted by the Fresno State Police Department, but if you have any concerns, the University has set up a call center. You can reach them at 877-646-7924. The call center is open Monday through Friday, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST.

Fresno State says it will offer all those impacted a year of free credit monitoring.