Eastern Washington University Investigates Data Security Incident

Eastern Washington University is notifying former student employees and temporary employees of a data security incident impacting about 4,000 records dating back to 1997.

On Dec. 2, EWU discovered that an unauthorized individual accessed records in an electronic folder containing sensitive employee information. The disclosed data may include Social Security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth.

EWU is Providing Support and Protection Services

To address this incident, EWU is partnering with IDX to offer affected individuals identity theft protection services at no cost to those impacted. These services include credit and identity monitoring, identity recovery assistance, and a $1,000,000 insurance reimbursement policy. Impacted student and temporary employees are encouraged to enroll in these services by contacting the EWU Director of Risk Management at riskmanager@ewu.edu or by phone at 509.359.6618 before Wednesday, Jan. 8.

What Impacted Individuals Can Do

EWU recommends taking additional precautions to protect against identity theft, such as:

• Placing a fraud alert or credit freeze with major credit bureaus including:

• Equifax: 1.800.685.1111
• Experian: 1.888.397.3742
• TransUnion: 1.888.909.8872

• Regularly checking credit reports for suspicious activity.

• Reporting identity theft and seeking recovery steps at IdentityTheft.gov.

Former student or temporary employees with questions should contact the EWU Risk Management team at riskmanager@ewu.edu. The university deeply regrets this incident and remains committed to continually enhancing its security measures to protect personal information.