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9 Years of Louisiana College Applicants’ Data Lost

BATON ROUGE, La.

Bank account data and Social Security numbers for virtually all Louisiana college applicants and their parents over the past nine years were lost last month during a move, officials said.

The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance was advised to not say how many records were involved and the media format in which they were stored, Executive Director Melanie Amrhein said Wednesday. The state Attorney General’s Office is investigating the loss.

A lost case held backup data for every Louisiana application for federal student aid just about anyone who applied to college from 1998 through Sept. 13 of this year, Amrhein (AM-rine) said.

It also included applications during those years for the state’s TOPS scholarship program and information about START Saving Program accounts, including account numbers.

Sophisticated equipment and knowledge would be required to access the data. Amrhein said disclosing more information about the lost case and its contents won’t help someone access the data, but could help someone realize its significance.

The case was lost Sept. 19 when a driver for a Boston-based contractor failed to follow company procedures when loading it onto his vehicle, according to a statement e-mailed Wednesday by Laura Sudnik, spokeswoman for Iron Mountain Inc.

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