UC Berkeley officials announced today ( Thursday , April 30 ) that they are sending alert notices to current students and other individuals regarding a computer data breach that may have resulted in unauthorized access to their Social Security numbers or other personal information . There is no evidence that such information has actually been used , but officials are notifying individuals in accordance with California law and so that they can be alert to signs of any possible misuse of their information . The data breach involved unauthorized access to a campus Web server maintained by a unit within UC Berkeley 's Division of Equity and Inclusion . The server was used to store information including family financial information submitted by students . This included documents containing Social Security and bank account numbers . Officials sent letters to all affected individuals on April 30 . This included about 260 undergraduate students and some former students , as well as about 290 parents and other individuals , generally family members of the notified students . Current students also received emails , sent April 30 . Paul Rivers , UC Berkeley 's interim chief security officer , emphasized that the campus regrets that this occurred and will be offering those individuals free credit monitoring for a year . They also will receive a resource list to aid them in checking for possible suspicious activity on their accounts . When campus officials learned of the breach on March 14 they immediately removed the server from the network so that it could no longer be accessed . A digital forensics firm was brought in to investigate the matter and determine whether any personally identifiable information was compromised . Once the firm completed that work and confirmed the names of all impacted individuals , the letters were sent . The investigation revealed that the unauthorized access first occurred in December 2014 and that an additional , separate , unauthorized access occurred in February 2015 . ;