The University of Texas at Arlington
Office of Media Relations

Student records were inadvertently stolen during a theft that occurred at the home of a Computer Science Engineering faculty member on September 29th, 2006. Approximately 2,500 student records were located on the computer that was stolen. These records consisted of specific class rosters from the Fall of 2000 through the Fall of 2006 and included such information as the student’s name, attendance, grades, e-mail address, social security number and UTA ID.

Although the number of students affected is a minimal percentage of the UT Arlington student population, the university does not seek to minimize the concern raised by this incident. A web site has been launched and makes available several communication mechanisms for concerned individuals, as well as a set of resources for monitoring credit records and protecting your identity against fraud. The “Am I Affected?” web page lists all of the classes that were included in the data theft. If you have had no affiliation with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and have not taken one of the listed classes on the web site, then you are not affected.

Please know that UT Arlington is committed to doing everything it can to ensure the security of any personal information received from you, and to working vigorously with law enforcement authorities to identify and prosecute those responsible for this intrusion.

Not only is this email being distributed to make the campus aware of the recent data theft but to also highlight the need for everyone to diligent in protecting sensitive information. Over the next few weeks the university will be conducting security awareness activities to help educate the campus on the need of protecting oneself against fraud and identity theft.

For more information on the recent data theft or to find resources related to fraud and identity theft, please visit www.uta.edu/datatheft, or contact the Office of Information Technology at (817) 272 2208.