<p>Hello,</p>
<p>My daughter applied at several colleges last fall, one of which was Mount Holyoke.
This morning, (Saturday, when all their office are closed), I received a letter from MHC informing <em>me</em> that there might have been a “possible unauthorized acquisition or use of [my] personal information occurred on or about July 2009”.
The author then invited me to take various steps (such as filing police reports and paying credit reporting agencies to place a security freeze on my record).
Has anybody else received such a letter from MHC?
The part I do not understand is why <em>my</em> personal information would be compromised if my daughter applied. I called MHC’s safety office, and they did remember something happening back in July (so obviously, the letter is not spam), but the whole thing was turned over to the “computer center” and they could not tell me anything more.
Any idea?</p>
<p>I would call back on Monday to get more details. We received a very similar letter several years ago when a “laptop with private information” went missing at the company that manages my son’s Stafford loans. The “offer” from the company was to place a security alert with the credit bureaus and pay for credit monitoring for my son. We have also had a bank account “mysteriously” emptied and my 83 year old mother discovered some young person in NY City was using her social security number. So we, as a family, are acutely aware of the potential for identify theft. Call, get more information and take them up on the offer of a security alert and credit monitoring if offered. It can’t hurt and could prevent a huge headache.</p>
<p>I doubt anything but Spam would suggest paying credit agencies.</p>
<p>Don’t fill out or reply to anything else…and call their admissions offices (not a phone number on the e-mail…go to their website) on Monday (I don’t think they’re closed for Columbus Day.)</p>
<p>It’s not an email, but a bona fide letter from MHC (it is on their letterhead and the MHC Safety office confirmed that “something happened back in July”).
I will call them on Tuesday (I doubt anybody will be on campus on Columbus Day) but, in the meantime, I was wondering whether anybody whose daughter applied at MHC last winter had received the same letter this week and knew more about it the incident.
Cheers.</p>
<p>They will be at school on Monday. It’s a big tour day for HS juniors and seniors.</p>
<p>You also might want to post on the Mount Holyoke forum. There are some parents on that forum somewhat regularly…and…you could at least find out if others had received the letter.</p>
<p>I would still contact the admissions office directly.</p>
<p>(It could be you, versus your daughter, if your credit card was used to pay the application fee.)</p>
<p>Turns out that the breach of security did <em>not</em> happen at MHC itself, but with the computer of the Alumnae House, the Willits-Hallowell Center, where we stayed during our visit. Some Visa card numbers could have been compromised:-(
(I am posting this to reassure anybody I might worried with my posting “MHC + Identity theft” :-))</p>
<p>I just learned about the concern expressed by Grateful Mom, and wanted to provide a little more information. The potential security breach was discovered in July and affected only individuals who used their credit cards at Mount Holyoke’s Willits Hallowell Conference Center. We cannot confirm that any cardholder’s information was actually accessed; but the letter was sent to those who used their cards at Willits Hallowell as a precautionary measure in accordance with Massachusetts law. - Jan Albano, Associate Treasurer, Mount Holyoke College</p>