On May 10, 2023, Bristol Community College (“BCC”) filed a notice of data breach with the Office of the Maine Attorney General after learning that confidential information belonging to faculty and students was leaked following a cybersecurity incident. Based on the company’s official filing, the incident resulted in an unauthorized party gaining access to consumers’ names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, state identification numbers, bank account information, credit or debit card information, passport numbers and protected health information. After confirming that consumer data was leaked, BCC began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals who were impacted by the recent data security incident.
If you received a data breach notification from Bristol Community College, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. As we’ve reported in previous posts, hackers can wreak havoc on data breach victims’ lives by committing complex fraud schemes, such as identity theft. However, there are things you can do after learning about a breach to protect yourself. Additionally, if it turns out that Bristol Community College was negligent in how it stored your information, the organization may be liable to you through a data breach lawsuit.
What We Know So Far About the Bristol Community College Breach
News of the Bristol Community College data breach only broke recently; however, what we know at this point comes from the company’s filing with the Attorney General of Maine, as well as a notice posted on the school’s website. According to these sources, BCC recently discovered that an unauthorized party was able to access its network between December 13, 2022 and December 14, 2022. In response, Bristol Community College launched an investigation with the assistance of cybersecurity professionals in hopes of learning more about the incident as well as whether any student or faculty data was exposed as a result.
The BCC investigation confirmed that the unauthorized party was able to access certain files on its computer system that contained confidential information belonging to students and faculty.
Upon discovering that sensitive consumer data was made available to an unauthorized party, Bristol Community College began to review the affected files to determine what information was compromised and which consumers were impacted. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, Social Security number, taxpayer identification number, date of birth, driver’s license number or state identification number, bank account information, credit or debit card information, passport number, medical information, Medicare/Medicaid number, and health insurance policy information.
On May 10, 2023, Bristol Community College sent out data breach letters to all individuals whose information was compromised as a result of the recent data security incident.
More Information About Bristol Community College
Founded in 1965, Bristol Community College is a public community college located in Fall River, Massachusetts. The school also operates three other campuses in Attleboro, New Bedford, and Taunton. In total, BCC has over 11,000 students and an administrative staff of approximately 430. Bristol Community College employs more than 1,028 people in total and generates approximately $33 million in annual revenue.
