Photo courtesy of Mashable.com.

Following the National SSN Data breach, one of the largest data breaches we have seen, according to experts, ABC5, “National Public Data released details this September of an incident believed to involve a third party trying to hack into data in late 2023. Potential leaks of certain data involved names, email addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and mailing addresses in April and this summer.” 

Steve Stransky, a co-chair of the Data Privacy and Cyber-security, said, “This is clearly one of the largest breaches that we’ve seen, just based on the pure volume of personal data and records that have been compromised and exposed.” This event has caused Americans all over the country to have their personal data leaked along with their social security numbers, which has led to bank compromises as well as many other acts of cybercrime. Following this national attack, we asked Saint Ambrose students how they felt about the SSN Data breach. 

St. Ambrose students say they had no idea this even happened, let alone what to do about it. Some said they thought it was fake, and only one student The Buzz interviewed was aware of the situation.

An SAU nursing sophomore who didn’t give her name asked, “What is that? I have never even heard about it.” When explained that there was a possibility that her personal information may have been a part of this national leak, including her SSN, she said, “Oh wow, that is very concerning. How do I go about fixing that?” 

Another student was Hailee (last name omitted). A sophomore studying biology who is planning to go to PA school, had like many others, hadn’t heard of the breach. “ I had no idea that was a thing. What does that mean, like if my SSN is on the Internet?” It was explained to her there is a possibility that her personal information is in this leak and that there is a website she could go to to check if her information was compromised. “Thank you for letting me know. I am going to call my mom because she knows a lot about computers, and she has probably heard about this.” 

Another student named Morgan a junior in SAU’s nursing program. Said, “ I heard about that on Tiktok, but I didn’t think that was actually a thing or that actually happened. I just thought it was another way someone was trying to get views on Tiktok.” 

Alex, a junior studying business at St. Ambrose, said, “I’m sorry, the what?….. I have no idea what you are even talking about.” After explaining what the situation was, he then said, “Oh wow, I didn’t even realize that was a thing or that was going on. That definitely freaks me out a little bit.”

The only student we spoke to who knew about this breach was John, a senior studying computer science at St. Ambrose University. When asked what he thought about the SSN breach, he said, “Oh yeah, I heard about that. I was super concerned that my information was somehow on the Internet, so I went to that website that you could look up your name and see if there was a data leak containing your social security number or other information. I luckily, I was not a part of the leak, but my parents were, so I let them know, and they have been watching their accounts ever since then.” To learn if your personal information may have been compromised, click this link created by Pentester, a cybersecurity technology platform that helps organizations identify and address potential risks and exposures before attackers do here.

Jacob Sosnowski is a staff writer for The Buzz.