TO THE EDITOR:
It is obvious the DTH editorial board has not spoken to any staff about how they feel about the recent data breach that revealed all their personal information (Jan. 8, “The response to the security breach has been admirable”).
The general tenor of the employees’ feelings as expressed to me is one of utmost anger and dismay at the University’s initial failure to protect their most vital information and then the lack of timely notification and the complete absence of an appropriate remedy offered to them.
Employees are very angry about the perceived delay in informing them of the security breach and want to know why they were not informed immediately once it was discovered their information had been compromised.
The almost universal sentiment is “The university made the problem, so they should fix it,” usually expressed much more graphically.
Employees I have spoken to remain deeply unsatisfied by the recent offer of a one-year monitoring period and repeatedly cite the example of the University of South Carolina offering three years of security monitoring in similar circumstances.
Many regard the one-year offer as just something offered to appease employees — while the university is trying to get away with doing as little as it possibly can get away with.
This has had a hugely damaging and demoralizing effect on employee morale — a feeling further compounded by their perception that the University has failed, and will continue to fail, to adequately address its own failing and accept its full responsibility to offer an acceptable, effective long-term remedy.
David Brannigan
Grounds Services
