back to article Disney World-area University admits massive data breach

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has admitted that hackers who broke into its systems may have snaffled the personal details of more than 60,000 staff and students. The breach, discovered in early January but only made public on Thursday, exposed the social security numbers and other private information of 63,000 …

  1. Aqua Marina

    WTF has Disney got to do with it? Click bait?

    A half hour drive for me is about 35-40 miles. What's next, "Heathrow Airport-area food poisoning scare" the next time someone gets a dodgy cheeseburger from the greasy van in the center of Watford on a Friday night?

    1. Joe Harrison

      Obviously unable to resist that lovely sub-headline. Damn it I can't get that tune out of my head now...

    2. skeptical i
      Coat

      Mickey Mouse security?

      "WTF has Disney got to do with it?"

      Mine's the one with _Team Rat_ in the pocket ....

      1. Fatman
        Joke

        Re: Mickey Mouse security?

        They probably outsourced their security to the same bunch of clowns that secured Sony.

    3. GrumpenKraut

      > Click bait?

      Noooo, neverrrr...

      This is not one of those publication with a big red rectangle on top! Erm, wait...

    4. WolfFan Silver badge

      if going by the location

      Instead of noting that it's in the Land of the Mouse, perhaps it should be noted that the USN used to have a major nuke training center in Orlando. It was, I believe, very close to current UCF campus. The USN moved it to South Carolina a few years back. So the hackers missed getting nuke sailor secrets by just a few years...

      Or not.

    5. cray74

      WTF has Disney got to do with it? Click bait?

      Probably easiest place recognition for out-of-state readers. Saying "that diploma mill that churns out undergrads for Florida's aerospace and light industry" might mean less to someone in the center of Watford than mentioning Disney World. And simply saying "Orlando" is just pedestrian when you could invoke The Mouse. :)

      A half hour drive for me is about 35-40 miles

      "Half an hour" wouldn't be my choice for describing UCF's location with respect to Disney World. If you're on the road before 6am or after 9pm, yes, you could make the 35-mile drive (along I-4 and 408) in half an hour. However, Orlando's stretch of I-4 is notable for being the filming site of all 4 Mad Max movies** and weekly re-enactments thereof. Morning traffic updates do not offer the morbid entertainment of guessing if someone will die on I-4 that week, but rather how many will die. Even without wrecks, half an hour won't get you very far in Orlando during rush hour periods.

      **I've heard some nonsense about Australia, but personally dismiss such unsupported silliness.

    6. MyffyW Silver badge

      Well said @Aqua_Marina - I feel clicked and baited.

      El Reg - "Let it go" / "LET IT GO"

  2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    For the last fscking time

    > exposed the social security numbers and other private information

    Social security numbers are not fsckign secret, assuming they are secret and using them as a government guaranteed form of ID is what causes all the fsckign problems.

    The only government guaranteed form of ID is your secret government issued citizen number which can be founded printed in invisible ink on .... LOST CARRIER .....

    1. Robert Moore
      Black Helicopters

      Re: For the last fscking time

      It is not printed anywhere! Who got to you!?!?!?!?!?

      Obviously the number is tattooed in invisible ink on your.... LOST CARRIER ....

    2. Fatman
      Joke

      Re: For the last fscking time

      <quote>The only government guaranteed form of ID is your secret government issued citizen number which can be founded printed in invisible ink on .... is recorded on an RFID chip jammed up your ass right after birth.</quote>

      FTFY!

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: For the last fscking time

        "RFID chip jammed up your ass right after birth"

        Obviously not a parent or you'd know that NOTHING stays up the ass of a newborn. It's a one way street, exit only.

        Coat. The one that smells of baby sick.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: For the last fscking time

          So we are now in the times of the "Bleeding Arse Generation"?

  3. bluefin333
    Meh

    "is looking into the breach"

    Safer than looking down the other end of the barrel I suppose...

    1. Mark 85
      Headmaster

      Re: "is looking into the breach"

      I do believe you misread read that. Breach is a hole, usually in reference to a walled fortification. Breech (what I suspect you read) is the rear of the gun.

  4. cirby

    Second-largest University...

    ...in the United States.

    1. WolfFan Silver badge

      Re: Second-largest University...

      At 63,000 undergrads it's not even the second largest university in Florida. Yes, I know, some online sources say it is. They also say that Miami Dade College is #1 (correct) but that it has, variously 99,000 and 174,000 undergrads. It's got over 192,000. Palm Beach State has 65,000 undergrads. it's not even on the list of top 10 and shows as 42,000 further down in the list at http://collegestats.org/colleges/florida/largest, which I know is complete bollocks as it shows Miami Dade with only 99,000, about half of what it really has.

      Universities like University of Texas at Austin, and UCLA, and University of Michigan all have more than 63,000 undergrads. UT Austin, in typical Texas style, has a dorm building which is so big that it has its own zip code. Houston Community College has at least 90,000 undergrads, and may well have more than UT Austin.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Second-largest University...

        Downvoted because the info is simply wrong (and I attended UM)

  5. chivo243 Silver badge
    Coat

    oh wait

    I have partial data from the Disney Heist, maybe the data I have from the CFU heist will give me useful info?

  6. frank ly

    Where is ....

    .... 'Data security is our top priority' ?

  7. Sureo

    "...letter by snail mail..."

    This is why we had better not do away with snail mail.

    1. kend1
      Joke

      Re: "...letter by snail mail..."

      Poor form. They missed a perfect opportunity to email everyone with cc:<list_all>

  8. Andrew Jones 2

    Well..... I mean don't get a move on with informing people, it's not like it's a huge privacy or security risk - tell you what, just for fun why don't you post all the letters to Australia by boat and have someone at the other end post them all back by boat - you could even stick a Christmas card in there too - "Merry Christmas, sorry we got hacked" - it's not really that urgent or anything. Oh and whatever you do - don't bother to send the letters with any form of recorded delivery - it's not like it's important that you know that the letters actually got to the intended person. I just don't understand the completely laid back "oops, sorry about that, we'll have a chat to you about when we can be bothered" attitude.

  9. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Isn't that a picture of Disneyland?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      It's a picture of the mindset of the West.

  10. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    1 year's free credit monitoring. It's getting to be so routine that the crims will equally routinely wait a year for the monitoring to end. How about paying for a lifetime's free credit monitoring? That might make paying enough to do the job right in the first place a good enough investment to do it.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    FFS

    WHY are we still REQUIRED to use a FLEEPING SSN for EVERYTHING financial!!!???

    Legally, they are not supposed to be used for ANYTHING but Social Security purposes!

    Might as well have it tattooed on our wrists next...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: FFS

      Why am I still required to sign a paper that my money will not be used for "illegal purposes" like terrorism when I deposit it in a Qatar-owned bank?

  12. FarmerDave

    No problem

    Lets see, there are no more americans working at Disney because they outsourced all the jobs and brought in dark skinned help. So I don't see the problem, no americans hurt, no problem.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    What was the name of the Operating System?

    "The University of Central Florida (UCF) has admitted that hackers who broke into its systems may have snaffled the personal details of more than 60,000 staff and students."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What was the name of the Operating System?

      We know what Operating Systems are, what are you getting at?

      1. Electric Panda

        Re: What was the name of the Operating System?

        Probably some snarky thing about it *possibly* being a Windows estate. This would never happen on Linux ferlubalubalub.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: What was the name of the Operating System?

          "Collegiate Cyber Defense Club @ UCF"

          https://hackucf.org/blog/

  14. Gene Cash Silver badge

    Lawsuits are already flying

    FYI, I live a couple miles from this dump and went to school there for a while. Fortunately it was 25 years ago.

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ucf-data-hack-federal-lawsuit-breach-20160206-story.html

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like