Knox College - Notice of Data Security Incident

GALESBURG, Ill., April 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Knox College is private liberal arts university located in Galesburg, Illinois, which experienced a data security incident that may have involved personal information belonging to certain individuals who are either staff, current students, family of current students, or alumni.  Knox College has already sent notification of this incident via U.S. Mail to potentially impacted individuals and provided resources to assist them.  However, Knox College after a diligent search was not in possession of mailing addresses for all potentially impacted individuals, and accordingly, this notice is being provided for the benefit of those individuals that could not be contacted via U.S. Mail.

On November 24, 2022, Knox discovered unusual network activity and learned that it was the victim of a ransomware attack. In response, it immediately took steps to secure its network and initiated an investigation with the assistance of cybersecurity experts. The investigation revealed that an unknown actor gained access to and obtained data from the Knox network without authorization on or around November 24, 2022.  On December 7, 2022, after a comprehensive review of the potentially impacted data, Knox determined that personal information may have been involved.  Since that time, Knox has worked diligently to identify current contact information needed to notify all potentially affected individuals.

Knox College is not aware of any evidence of the misuse of any information potentially involved in this incident.  However, on January 3, 2023, and again on March 8, 2023, Knox College provided notice of this incident to the potentially impacted individuals.  In so doing, Knox College provided information about the incident and about steps that potentially impacted individuals can take to protect their information.  Knox College takes the security and privacy of information in its possession very seriously and is taking steps to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future.   

The following personal information may have been involved in the incident: names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, and passport numbers.

Knox College has established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident and to address related concerns.  Call center representatives are available at 1-833-758-4141, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Time.  Or for enrollment assistance, please call 1-888-228-4939 or visit https://www.mytrueidentity.ca for Canadian residents; or https://app.idx.us/account-creation/protect for United States residents.

The privacy and protection of personal information is a top priority for Knox College, which deeply regrets any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause.

SOURCE Knox College