Former Southeast university hall director charged in Georgia for illegally accessing two student acounts

A former Southeast Missouri State University employee has been indicted on

two charges of identity fraud and one charge of computer trespass after being found in possession of 800 student names and Social Security numbers.

William Elum, hall director of Dearmont during the 2006 to 2007 school year,

was arrested May 27 in Atlanta. While no students have reported credit fraud

as a result of the leak, Elum is accused of trying to access two student accounts.

"I haven't seen any evidence that these data have been misused beyond the

attempt the employee used to log on to our system in other students' names," said Dr. Dennis Holt, vice president for administration and enrollment management.

Nevertheless, university administrators are recommending students place a

fraud alert on their consumer credit file and also a security freeze on accounts at credit bureaus.

Holt said the employee left Southeast in June 2007. In April misuse of

information was detected when the technology office reviewed activity logs.

Students were notified of the breach through a letter mailed June 19. Holt said the delay in notifying students was caused by the time it took to identify which students were affected; some files were corrupt or had been duplicated.

Students can log into a Southeast portal to access grades, enroll in courses and pay bills. A user ID and password is needed, neither of which are a student's Social Security number.

"There is some evidence he knew about particular people beyond their Social Security number" in the two accounts invaded, Holt said. He characterized the employee as "more mischievous than anything else" because there is no evidence Elum did anything but access the accounts.

Information and suspicions were turned over to Georgia authorities, where Elum was reportedly living. According to Georgia Tech's Web site, Elum was employed as a hall director at the university during the 2007 to 2008 school year.

Superior Court of Fulton County records show Elum is scheduled to be in court June 30.

Dennis Holt explains why students' identities are likely safe

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