Social Security numbers' release draws UM apology

By Associated Press

July 19, 2008

The University of Maryland says it accidentally printed Social Security numbers on the outside of a mailing sent to all students.

The school says the brochure about on-campus parking went out July 1. It discovered a week later that each mailing label contained the recipient's Social Security number.

The university apologized in an e-mail to students Thursday and advised them to put a 90-day fraud alert on their consumer credit files. The school is also offering a one-year credit monitoring service from Equifax, at no charge to students.

The school says it has no information that any of the Social Security numbers have been misused.