The cohort of people whose personal information the federal government lost is larger than Ottawa has said.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada announced last month it lost a flash drive from an office in Gatineau, Que., containing the personal information of more than half a million student loan recipients. The department originally said the data breach only affected people who took out loans between 2000 and 2006. But as a team of lawyers moves forward on a $600-million class action suit, some of those involved say they applied for loans well outside that window.

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