The personal information of up to 2,000 people was exposed to the public for five days on a computer in Cornell’s athletics department, a University administrator confirmed Thursday.

A Cornell Information Technology employee is suing the University for $1 million for violating the Americans With Disabilities Act in a way that he says brought him “severe emotional pain and suffering, mental anguish, humiliation [and a] loss of enjoyment of life.”

Cornell Information Technologies will require Cornell affiliates to sign on with their NetIDs when using CIT-operated computers beginning in the 2011-2012 academic year.

Cornell Information Technologies has developed and introduced a program to clear the University’s computers of the unsecure personal information of students, faculty, and administrators, and ensure that any information retained is secure after the 2009 security breach that left 45,000 at risk of identity theft.

Cornell named Ted Dodds, vice provost for information technology at the University of British Columbia, chief information officer and vice president for the University. Dodds will assume his post on Jan. 17, and “will develop long-term technology strategies that focus on value-added services ... [and] continue cost-reduction initiatives that are in progress,” the University said in a statement.

Contrary to media reports, Cornell is not experiencing bandwidth problems as a result of iPad use on campus, according to CIT.

A new e-mail phishing scam is currently circulating Cornell, directing users to an almost exact replica of Cornell’s authentication site, C.U. WebLogin.

The ubiquitous use of social networking often makes students wonder if private information stored on faraway servers passes in front of more eyes than originally intended.

Although privacy — especially on the network —seems to be in easy danger of infringement, Cornell Information Technologies maintains that the University’s central information technology organization strictly protects student privacy.

“It could be argued that among all the constituents in the Cornell community, faculty, staff and students, students enjoy the highest degree of privacy because of the protection of education records under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act,” said Tracy Mitrano, director of I.T. Policy.

Cornell Information Technologies is in the midst of an overhaul of the University e-mail system that will increase storage quotas, speed and amenities for students and faculty. The project, called Ensemble, will enable faculty and staff to use such programs as Microsoft Outlook and Entourage. Students’ e-mails will be provided through third-party vendors.

“We’re talking with Google and Microsoft, but we don’t have contracts yet,” Ricky MacDonald ’71, director of systems and operations for CIT, said of the student e-mail accounts. “Our intention is that all students will be provided with accounts on both services. We would like students to have the option to use either.”