HARRIMAN, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The theft of one storage device, means the personal information for nearly 11,000 people was stolen, and that includes their social security numbers.

It happened when a flash drive was stolen from the vehicle of an employee of Roane State Community College.

It's her freshman year at Roane State Community College, and just coming off her fall break, Kayla Smith found out that a flash drive was stolen from an employee at her school, and it included personal information for thousands of people.

Kayla says, "It was definitely scary, stealing your identity."

Vice President for Business and Finance, Danny Gibbs says, "On Monday October 12Th, an employee reported to college officials that a portable data storage device had been stolen from their automobile."

It happened at the employee's home in Knox County, and the Sheriff's Department is investigating.

Their report report shows the employee admitted to forgetting to lock their vehicle, and that the flash drive was stolen sometime over the course of more than 3 days.

Gibbs says, "The employee was just doing some extra work after hours, taking some work home."

Working in the college business office, the employee downloaded personal information, including social security numbers, for nearly 11,000 former and current students and employees.

Plus, there was a list of more than 5,000 social security numbers, without names.

Gibbs says, "Fortunately we realized that we had copies of the information, that was on the drive."

Now, the college is contacting everyone who's personal information was on that flash drive.

Gibbs says, "We just sincerely regret that this happened."

Kayla says, "If we didn't have an email saying that someone stole our identity or our social security number, that we were OK. " And, Kayla was relieved when she didn't find that in her in-box.

College officials say they are reviewing their policies to avoid something like this from happening again.

If you have additional questions or concerns, CLICK HERE.

You can also email them, idalert@roanestate.edu

Or call Roane State Community College at (865)882-4688, or toll-free 1-866-462-7722 ext 4688.
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