Canadian University Data Breach: What Students and Families Should Know

Mount Royal University in Calgary recently announced that hackers broke into their computer network. The attackers stole data from the university's file storage systems and then deleted it. The university has confirmed the breach and is working to understand what information was taken.

If you are a student, parent of a student, or staff member at Mount Royal University, your personal information may have been accessed. This could include student records, contact information, academic data, or employment records. The university has not yet released full details about exactly what information was compromised.

Here is what you should do right now:

1. Watch your email for official communications from Mount Royal University about the breach. They will provide specific instructions for affected individuals.
2. Monitor your financial accounts and credit reports for any suspicious activity. You can request a free credit report to check for unauthorized accounts.
3. Be extremely cautious of any emails claiming to be from the university. Scammers often follow data breaches with phishing emails that try to steal more information.
4. Change your university account password and any other accounts where you used the same password.
5. If the university offers free credit monitoring or identity protection services, sign up for them. This incident highlights why keeping separate passwords for different accounts is so important. Consider using a password manager to create and store unique passwords for each website and service you use. Enable two-factor authentication whenever it is available, especially for email, banking, and school accounts. This adds an extra layer of protection even if your password is stolen.