CHENEY -- The personal information of tens of thousands of people has been potentially compromised by a hacker who infiltrated Eastern Washington University’s computer network.

The data includes names, social security numbers and birth dates of current and former students going all the way back to 1987. In all up to 130,000 people could be impacted by this breach.

“EWU regrets that anyone’s personal information may have been subject to unauthorized disclosure,” University President Rodolfo Arévalo said in a written statement Thursday. “The university is taking this matter seriously and is committed to maintaining everyone’s privacy.”

The breach was discovered while the university was conducting an assessment of its network. The information technology staff conducting the assessment also found that the hacker also installed software “to store and share video files on the system.”

The university didn’t confirm in their statement whether or not student personal information had actually been compromised. Eastern is in the process of notifying everyone that might be impacted by the breach, a process that Eastern estimates could take up to two weeks.

A website and phone line has been set up to help address concerns about this incident.

EWU Identity Theft Security Alert

People can also call 1-800-615-9381 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.