To Our Campus Community:

The UC Davis Information Security Office is working with UCOP in response to a security incident involving UC employee information.

Beginning Monday, March 29, many UC Davis email accounts started receiving messages stating that their personal data had been stolen and would be released. We learned from our colleagues that similar messages were being received in email accounts for multiple campuses throughout the UC system.

The Information Security Office investigated and found that these emails contained a link to a public website where a sample of personal data from UC employees was posted. Working with the IET uConnect email team, we took steps to block these messages from being received by UC Davis email accounts.

We have subsequently learned that some personal UC employee data was obtained through a cyberattack on a UCOP system, and this was the source for the information released. The security team at UCOP, working with law enforcement, is investigating the matter and has released a statement that you can read on the Dateline news site.

UCOP is working to determine the scope, and will reach out directly to any members of the UC Davis community affected by this incident. In the meantime, if you receive any suspicious email, please report it to cybersecurity@ucdavis.edu without clicking on any links or replying to the sender.

This is also a good time to review cybersecurity tips. The UC Cyber Security Awareness Fundamentals course includes some great content on these types of issues; please log onto the UC Learning Center to view the course if you have not already done so.

Always be suspicious of any email asking for personal or user account information. UC Davis will never ask you for such information via email. If you have questions or concerns, please contact cybersecurity@ucdavis.edu.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Viji Murali
Vice Provost, Information and Educational Technology
and Chief Information Officer

Cheryl Washington
Chief Information Security Officer