‘Shock and dismay’ after Clare data leak
The financial data of hundreds of students at the College was leaked in an all-student email
Hundreds of Clare students had their financial data breached by the College in an all-student email.
A group email sent from the college’s student accounts office on Thursday (30/11) disclosed more than one hundred students’ bursary entitlement.
The email listed alphabetically the full names of Clare students in receipt of the Cambridge bursary followed by the amount of the bursary each student is set to receive.
One student whose bursary entitlement was leaked by the College told Varsity: “I’m very shocked and dismayed by what’s happened.”
“There should be systems in place to ensure extremely sensitive financial information like this should not be leaked,” they said.
Shortly after the breach, the College’s bursar Lizzy Condor emailed students to inform them that there had been a “departure from our usual standards for data security.”
The bursar’s email requested that students delete the email concerned and send an email confirming that they had done so.
Condor’s email also offered students “sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused” and encouraged them to “contact the College Office, Health and Wellbeing centre or your Tutor” with any concerns.
In January of this year, Cambridge SU launched an investigation into a “data breach” after students “were outed without even knowing.”
For months, student society admins had been able to access students’ data without their explicit knowledge via the SU voting platform, even after the issue was raised multiple times. This “self-id data” concerned student sexualities, gender identities, race and disabilities.
Clare College was contacted for comment.
- Features / The case of the neglectful college parent3 December 2024
- News / Trinity referred to UN over ‘aiding and abetting international crimes against Palestinians’ 5 December 2024
- Comment / What they don’t teach you at Cambridge: how to get a job29 November 2024
- Theatre / Snow White is rotten right to the core29 November 2024
- Features / In search of togetherness: Cambridge’s international students1 December 2024