Glitch Reveals Student Loan Data

A glitch that may have exposed the personal data of a small portion of the 6.4 million borrowers that use third-party provider Affiliated Computer Services to pay for their federal student loans is being repaired, the Education Department said Wednesday. The agency would not specify how many individuals were affected, but did disclose that at least four borrowers had alerted them that they were able to view other borrower's information, but not their own.

The problem was said to be caused by a software upgrade to the servers which contained student loan data. The parts of the Web site that malfunctioned have been disabled, and would not return until ACS could ensure that data would not be compromised. Only those who borrowed money directly from the federal government would be affected, and not those who privately borrowed, the agency said.