Indiana University officials have said a tool on the university’s website may have inadvertently granted unauthorized users access to the grades and other academic records of any student who took at least one course at any IU campus during the past five years, including IUPUC.
The tool, which was intended to allow students to view their own grade history and calculate their grade-point averages and authorized university staff to view grades and calculate GPAs, was removed from the university’s website on Tuesday. That was when Indiana University officials were alerted to what they describe as a “misconfiguration” of the tool.
The alleged “misconfiguration” allowed anyone with a valid Indiana University login ID to potentially access the academic records of any current Indiana University Bloomington student, as well as any student who took at least one course at any IU campus during the past five years, said university spokesman Chuck Carney.
The information that potentially could have been accessed includes class names, semester the classes were taken, grades for those classes and the students’ overall GPA, Carney said.
Additionally, enrolled IU Bloomington students, students who transferred to or from IU Bloomington and former students at any IU campus since Nov. 26, 2013 are potentially affected, the university said in a statement on Friday.
Former students prior to 2013 whose records were reactivated — meaning they may have made an academic advising appointment, requested a transcript, made a bursar payment or registered for a course — also could have been affected, the university said.
“Additional analysis has revealed that in addition to current IU Bloomington students, past students on all IU campuses who have taken at least one course in the past five years were potentially impacted,” Indiana University Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education said in a statement. “We are expeditiously working to identify all potentially impacted individuals.”
Currently, university officials are attempting to determine the cause of the alleged “misconfiguration.” No other student information was accessible at any time, IU officials said.
“Nobody in the general public without an IU login could access that (tool),” Carney said of the incident.
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Indiana University students or their parents should call Indiana University’s call center 812-855-4848 for questions or more information.
Visit ovpue.indiana.edu/about-us/notices.html for updated information from Indiana University about the issue.
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