The mistake allowed anyone over a recent seven-week period to access the files on the New Jersey company's computer network, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

"As soon as I found out about this security issue we acted immediately to shut down any access to this information," said Stephen C. Richards, the company's chief operating officer. "The Princeton Review takes Internet privacy seriously, and we are currently conducting a review of all of our procedures."

Included in the exposed information was data on about 34,000 students in Sarasota, Fla., public schools including birth dates and ethnicity, whether they had learning disabilities, whether English was their second language, and their performance on state tests.