My SSN was exposed in a breach at Columbia—a school I have no connection with
Columbia admits last year’s data breach exposed victims beyond its students, staff.
Signal weather
Rising
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
A weird text from my dad in February sent me on a months-long quest to solve a mystery that has been troubling an odd group of victims from a Columbia University data breach last year. That group? People with absolutely no connection to the school. The text included a photo of a letter from Columbia, informing me that I was a victim of a data breach last June, one that exposed a wide range of sensitive information, including 1.8 million Social Security numbers. Columbia's public notices about the breach were addressed exclusively to "members of the Columbia community." In the notices, Columbia warned that an "unauthorized party obtained information about students and applicants related to admissions, enrollment, and financial aid processes, as well as certain personal information associated with some Columbia employees." Major news reports that followed only referenced people affiliated with Columbia as victims, while pointing out that the hacktivist behind the breach was reportedly motivated to expose Columbia's history of "affirmative action-based" admissions. Read full article Comments
Stay on the signal
Follow My SSN was exposed in a breach at Columbia—a school I have no connection with
Follow this story beyond a single article: new follow-ups, adjacent sources, and the evolving storyline.
Story map
Understand this topic fast
A quick entry into the story: why it matters now, who is involved, and where to go next for context.
Why it matters now
Topic constellation
Open the live map for this story
See which entities, story threads, sources, and follow-up articles shape this story right now.
Click nodes to continue
Story timeline
Continue with this story
A short sequence of events and follow-up stories to understand the arc quickly.
How reliable this looks
Signal and trust for Ars Technica
This source works at a rapid pace: 100% of recent stories land in the hot window, and 0% carry visible search signal.
Reliability
92
Freshness
100
Sources in storyline
1
Related articles
More stories that share tags, source, or category context.
Some ancient microbes frozen with Ötzi the Iceman are still growing
What’s the difference between a person, an artifact, and an ecosystem?
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
Baby botulism outbreak: FDA still doesn't know cause—or how to prevent it
In the end, the three companies involved all point the finger at each other.
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
How a USB-connected speaker can infect a PC without ever being touched
Seller of the Sound Blaster Katana V2X doesn't consider the behavior a vulnerability.
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
Small modular nuclear reactor reaches criticality in first test
The reactor, from a startup called Antares, isn't ready to generate power yet.
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
More from Ars Technica
Fresh reporting and follow-up coverage from the same newsroom.
Some ancient microbes frozen with Ötzi the Iceman are still growing
What’s the difference between a person, an artifact, and an ecosystem?
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
Baby botulism outbreak: FDA still doesn't know cause—or how to prevent it
In the end, the three companies involved all point the finger at each other.
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
How a USB-connected speaker can infect a PC without ever being touched
Seller of the Sound Blaster Katana V2X doesn't consider the behavior a vulnerability.
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.
Small modular nuclear reactor reaches criticality in first test
The reactor, from a startup called Antares, isn't ready to generate power yet.
Signal weather
Momentum is building quickly, so this card is a good early entry point into the topic.
Why now
Fresh coverage with immediate momentum.