Stolen computers hold student IDs

Two computers stolen from Vanguard University earlier this month have put more than 5,000 financial aid applicants at risk for identity theft, authorities said today.

On Jan. 16, school employees discovered that someone had taken the computers from the school’s financial aid office over the Martin Luther King Day weekend.

Initially university officials had no idea the computers could contain sensitive data, said Ed Westbrook, the school’s vice president of student affairs.

“At first we thought it was just computer theft,” he said. “But when we had the IT [information technology] people there trying to get logged in and determine what was lost, they said we had a problem.”

University officials did not initially believe the computers kept financial aid data on their hard drives, Westbrook said. But last Friday while trying to restore what was lost, they learned that one machine stored the information, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, driver’s license numbers and lists of assets.

“When it was passing through that computer it remained on that computer even though we couldn’t see it on the hard drive,” Westbrook said. “If they’re sophisticated, they might be able to hack into this thing.”

Costa Mesa police have no leads yet, Sgt. Marty Carver said.

“No force was used,” he said. “We can’t even say for sure that someone didn’t take it when the building was open.”

At the same time, the thieves may not have intended to steal the information, he said.

Anyone who applied for financial aid at Vanguard University for the 2005-06 or 2006-07 school years is now at risk, he said. The 5,105 affected include even prospective students who may not have enrolled at Vanguard.

Anyone applying now, however, is safe, Westbrook said.

It’s easier to work on preventing this kind of theft than to catch thieves afterward, Carver said.

Businesses should change their locks whenever they release employees. They should buy software that can make retrieving data hard for thieves.

Afterward, though, it’s a waiting game.

“We’re going to have to wait,” he said. “To rely on either somebody who becomes aware of it, or we start having ID thefts show up and we backtrack the information that way.”

Vanguard has bolstered its security, Westbrook said. The locks have been changed, more data has been encrypted, and computers that deal with sensitive information have been locked down.

In addition, now financial aid records stay completely on the network server.

The university is sending a letter to anyone, including students and parents, who may be affected, according to a news release.

The school has also set up a website for possible victims, identityalert.vanguard.edu, as well as a toll-free number, (800) 920-7312.

Costa Mesa police said anyone with information on the theft should call Det. Matt Olin at (714) 754-5157.