On July 5, 2023, Madison Area Technical College posted a website notice explaining that one of the college’s partners was impacted by the recent data breach involving the MOVEit file transfer software. In this brief notice, Madison College explains that it was recently informed by the National Student Clearinghouse (“NSC”) that the breach may have included data provided to NSC by Madison College via MOVEit. As a result, an unauthorized party may have been able to access students’ sensitive information. The NSC investigation is ongoing; however, the company should provide notice to all affected students as soon as the company confirms who was affected.

If you received a data breach notification from National Student Clearinghouse or Madison College, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. The Madison College / National Student Clearinghouse data breach is one of many similar incidents involving the MOVEit file transfer software, which was used by thousands of companies across the world. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft as well as discuss your legal options following the Madison College data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.

What Caused the Data Breach Affecting Madison College Students?

The Madison College data breach was only recently announced, and more information is expected in the near future. However, Madison College’s notice entitled “Madison College provides update on recent cybersecurity event” provides some important information on what led up to the breach. According to this source, Madison College recently learned that one of the school’s service providers, the National Student Clearinghouse, experienced a data breach.

Evidently, NSC uses a file transfer service called MOVEit, which was created by Progress Software. Earlier this year, Progress Software announced a vulnerability affecting the MOVEit software, allowing unauthorized parties to access information that was transferred or stored on the MOVEit platform. Because NSC used MOVEit to transfer data provided by Madison College, students' personal and confidential information may have been accessible to an unauthorized party.

On July 5, 2023, Madison College posted notice of the breach to inform students who may have been affected by the recent National Student Clearinghouse / MOVEit data security incident. Importantly, this incident did not affect Madison College’s IT network; however, it did involve confidential student information provided to NSC by Madison College.

National Student Clearinghouse indicated that it provided notice of the incident to all institutions that were affected; however, the company did not mention if it would be sending data breach letters out to individual victims.

More Information About Madison Area Technical College

Founded in 1912, Madison Area Technical College is a community college based in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison College offers students more than 180 different associate degree, technical diploma or certificate options. The college serves students in the following Wisconsin counties: Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Marquette, Richland, Rock, and Sauk. Madison College employs more than 7,000 people and generates approximately $791 million in annual revenue.