Hacked Personal Details

[careleaversdoomorfate]

Unfortunately within my college there is a major security flaw which means that any student can get into another students college account and see the students NI number, d.o.b, address, name and signature even documents that may be uploaded. I found this out when someone did this to me. They made sure to ring me up and lemme know how they did it etc. So, I contacted the college about the major security flaw because even if you change your college account password, as long as a person has your student number and d.o.b then they can log into the outlook account provided by the college as you physically can't change the password due to IT putting restrictions on it which means that potentially fraudsters can reset your password and get into your college account without you knowing until you realise that you can't get into your own college account unless you reset your password and the game continues as they can just get back into the email and reset your password and see new additional information when they get back into your college account.

So, my name, d.o.b, address, NI number, phone number, personal email address and my fake signature is now in the hands of someone else. I called Action Fraud and they advised me to set up an account with clear score.com as it's free and allows you to see any unusual activity on your account. So far nothing has happened but I did accept funding from the college last year where they took down my full card details. I have two bank cards. So, should I cancel both cards even if only one card details is known? If I cancel both cards will I get a new one reissued quickly as I'm getting paid in a few days time and without a card no money can be paid into my account? So, I'm a bit stuck. Now that the person has access to all of these details if they rang the council and provided them with my name, d.o.b, address and NI number the council would probably take their address down which would mean that they fraudulently obtain a form of ID i.e. a council tax bill. So, could I put a password in with the council? The last time I tried they wouldn't do it and they told me that if someone had these details then they could potentially find out my new address? My only other thing is to change my name after I've finished this course to protect myself.

This is a really serious data breach and can / should be reported to the Information Commissioner Office (ICO).
You should first write to the college setting out your concerns. If they don't take action in a reasonable time frame report them. You to this via the ICO website, Google it, it's v simple process but you do have to show that you gave first raised it with the college.

First step should always be to approach the college. I can see you went to Action Fraud, but did you speak to the college yet to raise your concerns?
Sorry if I missed that in your post but it's the middle of the night and my eyes are a bit sleepy!

Sorry, yes you did contact college but you don't tell us what their response was...

@cheeseycharlie Hello

They know about the serious breach but they don't seem to be saying anything at all. In fact every communication has been ignored thus so far.

Whilst this is a major data breach, you might be slightly overreacting if you’re considering changing your name - as nothing has happened with your data yet.

Ask the college and to pay you for the cost of CIFAS protective registration. More info www.cifas.org.uk/services/identity-protection/protective-registration

Cancel both bank cards. The cards are cancelled, not the account, so you would obviously still get paid as normal.

Do you know who this person who accessed your details are? As they would have to purposely seek out your data (rather than stumbling on it accidentally). If so, could be worth contacting the police if this person is stalking/harassing you

Sorry, my last paragraph was really unclear. Basically if you know who the person who accessed your data is, and you believe they are stalking/harassing you, contact the police.

In fact this isn’t really a data breach on your college’s behalf - this person has actually hacked your account to gain access to your details, which is a computer misuse act offence. So it’s more of a police matter than a GDPR issue, although your college could increase the security of their account recovery process. They should especially look into modifying your account recovery options to prevent this person from having ongoing access to your account.

@lhmua12 Hello

It was no accident. It was a family member. I won't go into too much detail but I've been protected from them legally (I forgot that my username could kind of give it away lol) since I was a little girl. I used to wonder how they kept on getting my number as I even limited it down to one person and the college. Then with this number, nobody had it apart from the college as I had suspicions and then I just knew when the private calls started coming in of laughter, then breathing down the phone at me, waiting for me to say 'hello?' after two minutes of silence and then hanging up on me quickly. I knew it was them before they eventually revealed it all to me as only they do stuff like this. What happened was they found out where I lived and stole my college post which said my number on it and from then that's when I assume this has all been happening for. They even attempted to set up a re-direction delivery in my name but as I contacted Royal Mail this was stopped and a failed attempt.

@cheeseycharlie Okay. I will do this. I have been assured that I mustn't worry too much as I'm moving addresses in a couple of months (not updating any details with college for obvious reasons) and I'm going to change my number again this week. I will also be needing to change security questions and letting the benefits departments know of the changes to security. I was told that I mustnt worry too much because employers have all of this info in general and so it isn't made that easy for identity theft to take place. I was also told that I could monitor things by setting up clear score and as long as my cards are cancelled etc then all will be well. So, that's what I'm going to do.

@lhmua12 It's not extreme at all. This person has been convicted or arrested on fraud charges in the past and they've done everything to try and wriggle their way back into my life. My worker whose worked in mental healthy for many years along with many other professionals believe this woman to be an undiagnosed psychopath and when you look at what she's done to children in the past, committed fraud etc and has deliberated tried to ruin peoples reputations etc (it's luckily never worked as she's now got a certain name for herself as people are aware of her) and has been on a serious hunger quest for power and control over mines and another persons life who has been sectioned multiple times after living with her (they were tricked and then kind of trapped financially etc by her), you know, these types of individuals are so callously evil that you never forget them. Unfortunately her past has caught up with her many times but even the council has informed me of attempts by her to gain access to my info in the past. My bet would be that she would just like to have the info illegally so that she would gain enjoyment of me potentially being fearful about it. It's all a game to her. Honestly, it's disgusting. It's abnormal and I know that my happiness and me doing well educationally makes her fury with rage as in her mind she would think 'how could she possibly be so happy and be doing so well without me?'. If someone doesn't want to be in her life (95% of people who come into contact with her, even the family) she can't understand why that could be. It genuinely baffles her. She's gone as far as using welfare checks on me in the past to try and lemme know that she's still in control but I've had it all reported that it was a hoax and I've kept those documents as that's the only way I can eventually get an injunction against her. This woman is one of a kind and until she dies, I will never be 100% fully at peace, although hopefully 90% at peace. xxx The police also don't do anything, when my worker explained how she spends £300 a month just to come down to my city weekly and to linger around my door, press the doorbell continuously and knock on the windows (bedroom usually) they said that there was nothing they could do even though we had countless documents infront of them to prove just what she's done. If the police can't help then who do I go to then? I can see why many girls/women get murdered by their stalkers and there's very little police protection for us. I won't get help until I've been murdered which I'm okay with as I'll be at peace for once in my life or until something serious has happened to me. I believe that it will be murder. I know it will.

Then you must go back to the police and if they don’t take you seriously, complain to their sergeant. Are the police aware of all the facts in this? Also how old are you?

Ask your college to issue you a new student number due to the abuse. Even HMRC will issue new NI numbers for victims of abuse, but this is something you should look into in the future (as she may currently have access to your post or accounts etc)

Ask your college if they can offer any student support, do they have a mentor scheme or bursaries?

I think the police could definitely do more to protect you. You need an injunction against her, what’s the hold up?

@lhmua12 Can HMRC give a new NI number? I thought you just had the same number for life?S Shall I contact HMRC? She is a psychopath (no kidding, very charming, 'level headed' and 'humble' but something esle in private and talks about revenge and ruining peoples reputations etc and actually attempts it, she's like hatred in the form of a human). I';ve changed many things and I'm moving address but should she try anyhting as I monitor my clear score regularly then I will get the cops involved but until fraud has been committed they can't do much about it all. I've reported the college to the police as they won't do much. They are more concerned with me shutting up about the security breach than anything else. In the future I'm going to change my name to, like in the next 5 years when I start my life properly and so I'll be okay. She's just disgusting. My biggest revenge for her is in fact not having contact with her, it genuinely kills her. She can't handle it at all.

In exceptional circumstances they will, yes. If you’re worried about the risk of murder, you probably are eligible.

However this is something you need to chase up with the police first so you can provide evidence (eg a crime number). The police won’t deal with the college as they don’t handle data protection issues (that’s the ICO). The police will handle the death threats, stalking and abuse etc against this family member