Midlands Tech warns employees of security breach

Midlands Technical College warned employees last month that a flash
drive containing some of their personal information was taken from a
human resources office at the college.

The flash drive, since returned — without the personal data it
previously held — could compromise the personal information of some of
the college’s 500 employees. But Midlands Tech spokesman Todd Gavin
said no problems have been reported by employees so far.

“There’s no reason to believe that anybody’s information was
compromised,” Gavin said. “The college is already working on an
internal audit of its security to make sure this doesn’t happen
again.”

The security breach at Midlands Tech is the second acknowledged by an
area college or university in the last week. The University of South
Carolina warned employees earlier this month that a breach of
computers at its Sumter campus exposed the personal information of
31,000 faculty, staff, retirees and students system-wide.

USC officials, like those at Midlands Tech, said there is no evidence
that anyone’s personal information was used improperly.

Gavin said no student information was compromised in the Midlands Tech
breach, which occurred at the college’s Airport campus.

In an e-mail dated Feb. 18, Crystal Rookard, human resource director
and legal counsel at Midlands Tech, told employees: “We take this
situation very seriously and recognize our responsibility to maintain
your confidence in our ability to protect confidential information.”

A painter who was working near the human resources office where the
flash drive was located has been questioned by law enforcement, Gavin
said, adding he does not know if or when charges might be filed.

“We don’t know how it got blank,” Gavin said of the flash drive. “We
don’t think it was blank to begin with.”

Rookard told employees, “The individual responsible for removing the
flash drive has indicated that the flash drive was not accessed or
viewed at any point.”

In addition to the internal review of security procedures, Gavin said
Midlands Tech is offering employees free credit monitoring. “To date,
nobody’s reported anything out of the ordinary on their credit.”