U. Council addresses student identity theft

Acknowledging the rising threat that identity theft poses to Penn students and faculty, University Council agreed Wednesday to make the issue a part of the agenda at its meeting this week. The group met Wednesday for two hours in the Bodek Lounge of Houston Hall. "The University has taken many steps in the past decade to protect the safety of its students," Mathematics Professor Gerald Porter said. "Protection against identity theft is equally important." Porter, chairman of Council's Task Force on Privacy of Personal Information, explained how easy it is to obtain a student's social security number and then use that information to open up a credit card account. "If your wallet is stolen, and you carry a social security card, it's relatively easy for someone to get information about you through your social security number," Porter said. "Armed with that number and the address off of your driver's license a person can steal your identity." But, according to Porter, one need not steal a wallet to obtain another social security number. "There are scores, probably hundreds of databases around campus where that information is available," Porter said. Recent history lends credibility to the task force's concerns. Last month, a University employee was arrested for using student social security numbers -- obtained from Penn computer systems -- to open credit card accounts. Penn uses students' social security numbers to access grade reports and billing information. The same used to be true for PennCard accounts. But five years ago, the University switched to printing a different number on PennCards. The task force is recommending that what was done with the PennCard system be applied to all University databases. It also is recommending the appointment of a chief privacy officer to investigate breaches of security regarding student's private information. "There is a need for a new student record system that will use PennCard numbers instead of social security numbers," Porter said, estimating the cost to "range from $5 million and up." Council decided by voice vote to evaluate the task force's recommendations next week. "I think its very easy for someone to not realize how awash this University is with social security numbers," Wharton senior Jesse Cohn, a member of the task force, said. "We need to find some way to stop identifying students by social security numbers, unless when absolutely necessary." Former Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Michael Bassik, a College senior, questioned whether the cost of converting Penn's databases should be as high as the task force predicted. "The UA got students concerned about this," Bassik said. "We e-mailed the student body to let them know that they could go to the Registrar's office to change their ID numbers." "It seems relatively easy," Bassik added. But the University's Information Security Officer, David Millar, emphasized that an analysis of cost should be completed first. "If we're serious about this, we probably want to do an audit and estimate a cost," Millar said. At Wednesday's meeting, Council also recognized the new UA chairwoman, College junior Dana Hork, and heard interim reports from its standing committees.