http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/9431401/detail.html June 27, 2006 ATHENS, Ohio -- Two graduate students have filed lawsuits against Ohio University due to recent data thefts from school computers. Donald Jay Kulpa, 31, of Cincinnati, and Kenneth Neben, 34, formerly of Columbus and now living in New Jersey, sued OU, claiming their privacy had been violated. Kulpa and Neben are two of possibly 173,000 students, employees, or faculty whose Social Security numbers were stolen in five separate instances since March 2005. Of the 173,000 people, about 367,000 files containing personal information such as Social Security numbers, names, medical records, and home addresses were breached. The lawsuit was filed Friday in the Ohio Court of Claims in Columbus. On the same day, OU made a decision to spend $4 million to heighten computer security on campus. The lawsuit asks a judge to order the school to compensate for any financial loss as a result of identity thefts linked to security breaches at OU. They also want the school to pay for credit monitoring services for anybody whose personal information may have been breached. Kulpa and Neben's lawsuit seeks class-action status to represent anyone affected, including students, faculty, and employees. John Burns, OU's legal affairs director, said he expected a lawsuit but not one that reached class-action status. "We'll review it and we'll defend it," Burns said. Mark Mezibov, a Cincinnati lawyer representing Kulpa and Neben, said the university was negligent and indifferent in failing to protect personal information A recent consultants' report concluded that OU's Computer and Network Services division considered security as a low priority for the past decade. However, the division had an annual budget of about $11 million and recent annual surpluses averaging $1.4 million. Last week, OU suspended the director of Computer and Network Services and the Internet and systems manager, pending an investigation regarding the security breaches. On April 21, the university announced it had discovered a security breach at its training center for fledgling businesses. Since the incident, breaches have been reported at the alumni office, health center, and the department that handles records for businesses the university hires. Copyright 2006 by ChannelCincinnati.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. _________________________________ Attend the Black Hat Briefings and Training, Las Vegas July 29 - August 3 2,500+ international security experts from 40 nations, 10 tracks, no vendor pitches. www.blackhat.com
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