Alumni donations: Universities do lots of work to identify who
might be interested in making a major donation (e.g., money for
a new building), and to handle the donor relationship
management. A "Development Office". Data is sensitive because:

• someone else might ask for the money first, and get it
• information disclosure could harm relationships
  • candid remarks or guesses about prospects -- embarrassment
  • prospects could likely see disclosure as an invasion of privacy
• internal threats: possible uncoordinated cultivation of prospects
• example: student calls major donor with inappropriate request
• this was a major issue at Stanford in 1994; notable Casper quote
• "[no] God-given right to solicit alumni under the Stanford name"

• no common network vulnerabilities affecting MIT's primary data
• some data was found vulnerable to a very simple attack
  • non-public contact info for two millions-of-dollars donors
  • some specific cultivation plans for one of those two alumni
• solution: IS visited relevant office to insist on password change

Copyright 2000, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
Quote is from Gerhard Casper, President of Stanford University, in the Faculty Senate Minutes, 1 December 1994, Stanford University.