My SSN was exposed in a breach at Columbia—a school I have no connection with

Data hoarding

Columbia admits last year’s data breach exposed victims beyond its students, staff.

Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

A weird text from my dad in February sent me on a months-long quest to solve a mystery that has been troubling an odd group of victims from a Columbia University data breach last year. That group? People with absolutely no connection to the school.

The text included a photo of a letter from Columbia, informing me that I was a victim of a data breach last June, one that exposed a wide range of sensitive information, including 1.8 million Social Security numbers.