<p>Personal information of approximately 800,000 present and former UCLA students, staff and faculty was compromised after someone hacked into a university database, in what officials say is apparently the largest incident of its kind at a college or university.
<br/>UCLA officials said Monday that a hacker gained access to a restricted university database that contained personal information including Social Security numbers, addresses and contact information. Credit card numbers, banking information and driver&#039;s license numbers were not included in the database, but names and Social Security numbers are the two items needed for identity theft.
<br/>Both current and former students&#039; information may have been exposed, as some records date back to the early 1990s, though university officials said as of now they have received no reports of information being misused.
<br/>Jim Davis, associate vice chancellor for information technology and UCLA&#039;s chief information officer, said in a statement that Social Security numbers seemed to be the hacker??s target.
<br/>Davis said the hacker appeared to have used a flaw in a program to access the database, which is one of the campus&#039; central databases.
<br/>&#034;In spite of our diligence, a sophisticated hacker found and exploited a subtle vulnerability in one of hundreds of applications,? he said. &#034;We have reconstructed and protected the compromised database and launched a comprehensive review of all computer security measures to accelerate systematic enhancements that were already in progress.?
<br/>Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams sent e-mail notifications Tuesday to everyone affected by the breach, advising students to monitor their financial accounts for unauthorized or fraudulent activity.
<br/>He wrote that while the university does not know whose personal information was actually obtained by hackers, some Social Security numbers were taken. Davis estimated that about 5 percent of the records that were accessed contained Social Security numbers,
<br/>Second-year philosophy student Lauryn Gold said she was upset to hear that the data had been accessed.
<br/>&#034;It definitely worries me,&#034; she said, adding that she would probably follow the advice in the chancellor&#039;s letter about how to monitor and protect her accounts.
<br/>According to the letter, information in the database was accessed between October 2005 and November 2006, when UCLA noticed the unauthorized activity and blocked access to Social Security numbers.
<br/>Abrams encouraged affected individuals to visit a Web site UCLA has set up offering advice on how to protect against identity theft, and said the university has also notified the FBI, which is investigating the incident.
<br/><hr><i>With reports from Bruin wire services.</i></p>

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