Data breach at University of Maryland dates back to 1992

WASHINGTON — The breadth of a cyber-attack at the University of Maryland is larger than school officials previously reported, but the number of Social Security numbers stolen is smaller than previously reported.

Hackers broke into a secure university database last month, stealing a massive amount of personal information, including Social Security numbers.

Initially, school officials believed the compromised records dated back to 1998. They have now revised that date to 1992.

Any person who was issued a college ID since 1992 could potentially be at risk, according to a letter from Ann G. Wylie, interim vice president and chief information officer at the University of Maryland.

After the attack, officials said 309,079 records were stolen. That number now sits at 287,580, still an enormous number but scaled back due to incomplete or inaccurate records included in the initial total.

About 30,000 people have registered for credit monitoring, a service the university is offering for free for five years.

An investigation into the breach continues.

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