Hackers stole the names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and university identification numbers for 309,079 former and current staff and students at the University of Maryland.

Brian Voss, vice-president of the university's IT department, said in a statement: "The University of Maryland was the victim of a sophisticated computer security attack that exposed records containing personal information. Since that time, we have been working around the clock to ensure the breach has been contained and that other data systems are protected."

Campus police, along with the US Secret Service, are investigating the hack and have enlisted the services of security firm MITRE to help determine what was lost and how to beef up network security.

As an alumni, I look forward to having a free year worth of credit-checking services. Oh, wait, my records are probably written in stone.