Tidewater Community College Data Breach (2015)

Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 3,000 current and former Tidewater Community College employees were leaked this month in a phishing scam, officials said Friday. The data breach happened March 2 when an employee in the finance department responded to a data request from a fake TCC email account. That staff member sent a file that included names, earnings, and withholding and deduction information for all 2015 employees, TCC spokesman James Toscano said. At least 16 TCC employees have reported false tax returns filed under their Social Security numbers in the leak, he said. Officials learned about the leak Thursday during an internal review. "It's a generally anxious time for people," Toscano said. "It's tax season, so obviously people are going to be upset, and they have a right to be upset. Our overriding concern has been alerting our employees." The leak is the latest in a string of similar incidents in recent years. Phishing schemes are especially common during tax season, when scammers target financial data to file fraudulent returns, experts say.