College of the Canyons reports third-party data breach
Learn More
The College of the Canyons is currently addressing a significant data breach impacting over 2,400 individuals, including current and former employees as well as independent contractors.
This breach originated from Keenan & Associates, a Torrance-based consulting and brokerage firm serving the Santa Clarita Community College District, among others. The incident, identified as a ransomware attack, occurred between 21st and 27th of August.
Upon discovering disruptions in their network servers on August 27, Keenan initiated an investigation with the help of third-party cybersecurity and forensic experts. The investigation confirmed that an unauthorized party had accessed internal systems over several days in late August, extracting data from Keenan’s systems.
The compromised data included sensitive personal information such as:
- names,
- Social Security numbers,
- driver’s license numbers,
- passport numbers,
- general health information,
- health insurance details,
- other employment-related data.
As a spokesperson for the College, Eric Harnish stated that Keenan is expected to reach out to the affected parties after the holiday break. He clarified that no students were impacted by this breach. As of now, there is no evidence suggesting any misuse of the personal information obtained in the breach.
Keenan has offered those affected a complimentary 24-month membership to Experian IdentityWorks identity protection.
