On campus

Police continue to investigate information security breach

The personal information of some former and current Tech employees was stolen over the summer.
Up to 42 employees may have had their personal information compromised.  Campus Police Chief Gay Shepard said a former employee gained unauthorized access to the personal information.
“One of the victims reported it to ‘Cookeville PD’,” Shepard said. “That’s how it got initiated. We exchanged information, and we are helping with their investigation.”
Campus police were informed of the situation July 5. Tech sent letters in early August informing the former and current employees of the security breach.
“It’s a huge deal,” Shepard said. “We’ve had to do a lot of work on this end to get the email out and the letters, what have you, to get everybody up to speed and aware.  Awareness was the most important part of this.”
Tech also plans to send out 11,000 additional letters to current and former employees with tips on how to spot and monitor signs of identity theft.
Shepard said the specific information that had been compromised was confidential as the investigation is ongoing.  
One of the 42 employees, Kelly Monk, who is a professor at Tech, said they were told very little information regarding the security breach.
“I got a form letter,” Monk said. “Not sure what else they could do.  They were pretty generic about it.  They said a former employee had gotten access to some of my personal information.  No real specifics.”
Monk expressed concern over something like this happening again but also understands that sometimes things like this will happen.
“You have to give up personal information to work, to get paid,” Monk said. “It is a shame that there are people out there who want to steal from you.”
The investigation is currently being conducted through a joint effort between the Campus Police and the Cookeville Police Department.