Nebraska State College System Data Breach (2012)

A former computer science and math student at the University of Nebraska faces serious charges after hacking into the university's system and causing a major security breach. According to the Journal Star, the U.S. Attorney's Office recently filed a federal charge against the 22-year-old alleging he intentionally accessed protected information last spring before the system was breached on May 23. Documents such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, grades and financial aid information dated back to the spring semester of 1985. The breach included information of about 650,000 students, alumni and applicants, however, once it was discovered by a technical staff member at the university last May, it was shut down within hours. Immediately after the breach was detected, university officials contacted the students whose bank account information was stored in the school system, according to the source.