A University of Maine data breach has the potential to expose the personal information of more than 900 past and present UMaine students, the university announced Wednesday. The breach was discovered when a faculty laptop and media card were reported stolen.

According to UMaine spokeswoman Margaret Nagle, the laptop and media card were stolen from the checked bag of a faculty member traveling from Seattle to Boston on Feb. 10. When the faculty member discovered the laptop was missing, the theft was immediately reported to the airline and Massachusetts State Police.

Students potentially affected by the breach were all enrolled in physics courses at UMaine dating back to 1999.

In total, the student records of 941 students were on the laptop and media card, containing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, course information and grade data. Six hundred and four of these records contained the Social Security numbers (SSNs) of students enrolled from 1999 to 2007, when the university was still using SSNs as student identification numbers, Nagle said. The remaining 337 records did not contain SSNs.

As required by Maine’s “Notice of Risk to Personal Data Act,” The University of Maine System General Counsel has notified the state’s attorney general’s office of the data breach.

As Feb. 18 there has been no indication that the information has been used.

UMaine officials are working with the information security company Experian Information Solutions to control the breach. Students whose SSNs were exposed will be offered one free year of identity protection from Experian, including credit monitoring, alerts regarding credit changes and identity theft insurance.

Nagle says that affected students will be notified by Experian within the next two weeks.