Access Group notifies borrowers of data security incident

It’s not just edtech vendors students need to watch out for when it comes to privacy and data security.  Vendors that help process student loans may also put you at risk, as this notification from AccessLex Institute  (dba Access Group) reminds us.  The nonprofit organization, which provides financial education resources and services, writes:

Dear [Name]:

[Date]

Notice of Data Breach

We are writing to inform you of an incident that may have affected your personal information. We take the privacy andsecurity of our borrowers’ information very seriously and are writing to provide details regarding the incident and information about steps you may take to help protect yourself.

What Happened:

On March 28, 2018 we learned that on March 23, 2018 a vendor we use to help provide student loan processing services inadvertently sent a copy of certain loan files, including your file, to another business that was not authorized to receive them. Shortly after we learned of the inadvertent file transfer, we contacted managers of the second business that received the files. The second business confirmed it had deleted the transferred files and agreed that the appropriate manager would sign a sworn statement confirming it had deleted the files and retained no copies.

What Information Was Involved:

The information involved included your name, driver’s license number, and Social Security number.

What We Are Doing:

We are committed to protecting your information and regret any concern this incident causes you. To try to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future, AccessLex Institute d/b/a Access Group will continue to communicate to its vendors that they must have written data transfer protocols in place and must train their employees to verify the identity of planned recipients of data transfers before the vendors transfer data.

What You Can Do:

We are committed to protecting your information and regret any concern this incident causes you. We encourage you to remain vigilant by reviewing your financial account statements for any unauthorized activity. You should also review the additional information on the following pages regarding ways to protect yourself. In an abundance of caution, we have arranged for you to receive a complimentary one-year membership of Experian’s® IdentityWorksSM Credit 3B. This product helps detect possible misuse of your personal information and provides you with identity protection services focused on immediate identification and resolution of identity theft. IdentityWorks Credit 3B is completely free to you and enrolling in this program will not hurt your credit score. For more information on identity theft prevention and IdentityWorks Credit 3B, including instructions on how to activate your complimentary one-year membership, please see the additional information provided in this letter.

For More Information:
If you have questions about this incident, you may call [insert call center phone number], Monday through Friday, from[insert times].

Sincerely,

Charles Albano EVP and COO