Hacks are a dime a dozen but this database contained some very sensitive information.

Courtney Pomeroy of CBS News in Washington, DC reported.

U-Md. Database Containing Thousands of Student, Staff Records Hacked

University of Maryland officials have released a statement a day after the university’s president announced a database containing sensitive information about faculty, staff, students and affiliated personnel had been hacked.

Records including the names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and University identification numbers of more than 300,000 people from the College Park and Shady Grove campuses who have been issued a University ID since 1998 have been compromised.

University System of Maryland Chancellor William “Brit” Kirwan released a statement in the wake of the breach.

“Our campus information security officers meet regularly, and I am confident we will all learn from this development and make our security defense mechanisms even stronger. The objective of managing information security at each USM campus has been a priority objective for each president, and this incident only means that we must continue to increase our vigilance in attending to Internet theft and personal information security.”

University President Wallace Loh wrote in an apologetic email sent out Wednesday that the university will offer one year of free credit monitoring to all affected by the breach.

“With the assistance of experts, we are handling this matter with an abundance of caution and diligence,” Loh stated.

State and federal law enforcement authorities are currently investigating the incident, as are computer forensic investigators.