By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Hackers broke into a University of Missouri computer last week and stole the names and Social Security numbers of 22,396 people.
However university officials say the breach only affects current or former students at the Columbia campus who also worked for any of the university's campuses in 2004.
Hackers with Chinese and Australian internet addresses struck early Thursday. Technicians confirmed the attack and stopped it a day later.
University spokesman Scott Charton said the hackers got in through a database used to track computer problems.
"They came upon a report that had been specially compiled, a copy of which remained in a computer system, and they were able to get a hit on that report," Charton said. "This isn't the sort of information that we leave lying around, and certainly this shouldn't have been there."
After they discovered the breach, university technicians shut down the database. They also put together a list of the people affected and contacted the FBI.
University of Missouri officials are urging those affected to contact one of the three credit reporting agencies and request a fraud alert.
The university has also set up a hotline, which will be staffed from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekdays. The number is 866-241-5619.
There is more information about the breach at http://doit.missouri.edu/computersecurity