HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Calhoun Community College students, alumni, employers, and other organizations received a letter late last month from a nonprofit, National Student Clearinghouse (the "Clearinghouse), about an issue involving personal information. National Student Clearinghouse provides educational reporting and verification services.
The letter indicated that on May 31, Clearinghouse was informed by its third-party software provider, Progress Software, of a cybersecurity issue involving the provider's 'MOVEit Transfer' solution.
Clearinghouse said this issue occurred on or around May 30. The nonprofit organization also learned through its investigation on June 30, that an unauthorized party obtained certain files from the MOVEit tool.
Personal information that was obtained, according to Clearinghouse, included name, date of birth, contact information, Social Security number, student ID number, and certain school-related records.
Clearinghouse says the organization has implemented patches to the MOVEit software, and has additional monitoring measures to further protect its system and those who were affected by the data breach. Those who were affected are offered identity monitoring services for two years, which will be at no cost.
If you do have any questions, call 866-731-2884, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST. This excludes major U.S. holidays.
This is a letter received by a former Calhoun Community College student impacted by the breach.
Here's a statement from Calhoun Community College:
"Calhoun Community College itself has not experienced a data breach or a breach of student information. The issue pertains to a third-party software provider. We received notifications from the National Student Clearinghouse regarding a potential compromise of student information by the software provider. The National Student Clearinghouse is a non-profit organization providing essential student reporting, verification, and research services to colleges and universities across the country, including Calhoun. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as necessary. The privacy and security of our students and staff remain our top priorities."
We reached out to the University of Alabama Huntsville, and Alabama A&M University which also uses the National Student Clearinghouse. The schools told us they had not been alerted of any data breach at this time.