Data breach at Southern Arkansas Tech University exposes personal information of students and employees

Southern Arkansas Tech University said a data security incident it suffered in October last year compromised the sensitive personal information of its students and employees.

 

Located in Camden, Arkansas, SAU Tech is a public two-year technical college that enrols more than 700 students every year.

 

In a data security incident notice on its website, SAU Tech said that on October 30, it detected unusual activity in its internal network. The university immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

 

It also took steps to secure the affected network and notified relevant law enforcement authorities about the incident.

 

“The investigation determined that an unauthorised user gained access to SAU Tech’s systems and may have copied files containing some personal information while present on our systems. We worked with a vendor to review the impacted data, and on March 18, 2025, determined that your personal information may have been affected,” SAU Tech said.

 

The compromised data included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial information, and limited health information. The university is yet to share the number of affected individuals.

 

“We have taken steps to prevent this kind of event in the future, such as performing a global password reset, deploying endpoint detection monitoring and response software on all systems, and implementing additional security controls,” the university added.

 

SAU Tech has advised all affected individuals to regularly monitor their credit reports, account and benefit statements and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities, including the police and the state attorney general.

 

It has also offered one year of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services through IDX to all affected individuals.

 

 

In February, the infamous RansomHub ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on SAU Tech and listed it as a victim on its data leak site. The group claimed to be in possession of 252GB of confidential data stolen from the university and threatened to release it unless their ransom demand was fulfilled.