MILWAUKEE, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A hacker may have compromised the names and Social Security numbers of 75,000 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students and employees, the school said.
Tom Luljak, the vice chancellor for university relations, said there is no proof anyone has been misusing the data, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday. He said investigators do not believe getting information for identity theft was the motive behind an intrusion into the university's computer system.
"Talking to the forensic experts, we don't believe the motive was identity theft," he said. "We are a research institution with a significant number of projects under way. It is theorized that this may have been an attempt to look at work being done."
Malicious software was discovered in late May that appeared to have been installed by someone outside the university. The software allowed the hacker to get into a database used by several departments, to scan and read documents.
On June 30, investigators discovered the hacker could have had access to personal data for current and former students, faculty and staff at the university. Luljak said there would have been no access to financial information or grades.
