Tennessee State officials recover lost information

Tennessee State University officials have confirmed that a missing flash drive containing more than 9,000 students’ Social Security numbers was recovered Monday, Sept. 15.
Tennessee State President Melvin N. Johnson said in a town hall meeting and subsequent press conference that a student, who had used the flash drive for saving a homework assignment, returned the drive at approximately 9 p.m. on Sept. 12.
Johnson did not indicate whether the student tampered with the information on the device, but informed the university that the flash drive is back in the university’s possession and that state auditing officials would investigate further.
Recovery of the drive came after the following situation was reported. A financial aid counselor reported the flash drive missing Tuesday morning, Sept. 9, after discovering that it was no longer in her possession, administrators said.
The counselor’s name was not released. The flash, which contained financial records of TSU students dating back to 2002, was last seen the previous evening. “The loss of this data is unfortunate,” said Tennessee State Provost Robert Hampton. “It is imperative that we protect our students’ personal information.”University personnel began notifying students the same week about the security breach, although no attempts to use the data had been discovered, administrators said.
Students’ reactions ranged from disappointment to anger. “I think it’s irresponsible. I really think that someone misplaced it, but that kind of stuff should be closely guarded,” said Charity King, a senior nursing major from Nashville, Tenn.