LMU breach exposes records of about 600,000 students

A cyberattack on Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich exposed admissions records covering about 50 years and around 600,000 current and former students, BR reported. The university has shut down the affected IT system.

The records include enrolment data. Bank details are also among the affected information from 2005 onwards, the university said. Passwords, large amounts of sensitive data, course content and examination information were not affected, according to the university.

The university said it is required as a public institution to retain data for long periods, including for later pension calculations. It follows a retention period of around 50 years that is customary in higher education.

The attacked system and some other university services were taken offline, and the data were secured. The university is investigating with support from professional and government bodies. It said there was so far no indication that the data had been published or misused. The attacker has not been identified.