Saint Mary ' s event celebrates College history

The personal and financial infor­ mation of some University donors may be at risk after an unknown i n t r u d e r h a c k e d in to a Development Office server Jan. 13 — th e f i r s t c o m p u te r s e c u r i ty breach of its magnitude at Notre D am e, U nivers ity officials said Sunday. The data in question — possibly including Social Security numbers, credit card information and check im a g e s from d o n a t io n s m ad e between Nov. 22, 2005 and Jan. 12 — p e r t a in s to a “m in o r i ty ” of alumni donors and friends of the University, said Hilary Crnkovich, vice president of Public Affairs and Communication. She declined to provide a specific estimate of the number of donors affected. “We’re not comfortable quantify­ ing i t ,” Crnkovich said Sunday. “We have no facts or quantifica­ tion th a t peop le w ere c o m p ro ­ mised.” The intrusion was not initiated from an o n -c a m p u s lo c a t io n , Crnkovich said, but its source is still a mystery. “We just really don’t know,” she said. Gordon Wishon, chief informa­ t io n o ff ice r for th e Office of Information Technologies, said the U niversity is w ork ing with two in d e p e n d e n t fo rens ics f irm s to determine the source of the intru­ sion and expects to receive results in several days. The analysis will “examine the contents of the server, look at the logs and a variety of data to help describe the na tu re of the in tru ­ sion and the intent of the in trud­ er,” Wishon said Sunday. However, the investigation may be unable to pinpoint the in trud­ e r ’s exact location, especially if the site was overseas or several relay sites were involved, Wishon said. And it’s also unclear w hether or not the University will know what information, if any, was viewed. “It may be that we’ll never find out exactly what was exposed or taken,” Wishon said. Both Crnkovich and Wishon said it was possible the purpose of the intrusion was for file-sharing pur­ poses, designed to obtain server space ra ther than personal infor­ mation.