From Dateline (February 5, 2003)
Campus Institutes New Identification
Numbers For Students, Faculty and Staff Members
by Pamela Mclaren
Nearly every day there are reports of the
latest virus to infect computers or of a hacker who has penetrated
the computer system of a university, corporation or governmental
agency.
The same can be said for identity theft, a crime
that occurs when someone uses another individual’s name, Social
Security number, credit card number or other identifying information.
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, an estimated 7
million consumers became victims of identity theft in 2002.
“A vital, busy university campus like ours
deals with thousands of sensitive records and communications daily,”
said Michael Parker, chief information technology officer. “We
continue to work to make sure that our information system is secure
and available for the needs of the campus community.”
Last fall, Information Technology began a campuswide
identification project to further protect students, faculty and
staff from potential identity theft. The project was developed in
conjunction with several new laws that mandate enhanced protection
of individuals’ Social Security numbers, including use of
SSN to identify students and campus employees.
By the end of December, the Student Information System
(SIS+) was modified to assign a new nine-digit number, beginning
with “8,” to identify students. The current student
ID (usually SSN) will be retained as an alternate key to bring up
student records in the SIS+ system. SSN can no longer be used for
public posting or on any materials mailed to students, unless required
by state or federal law.
“The changes on SIS+ should be transparent,”
said Susan Kachner, director of administrative computing in Information
Technology. “Students and staff members will still be able
to look up students records either by their Social Security number,
their name or by the new ID number.
Similar changes were made to faculty and staff member
records. All faculty, staff and others associated with the campus
were reassigned a campus ID with new nine-digit numbers.
Later this year, the campus will modify all other
uses, such as in cashiering and the Student Health and Counseling
Center, as well as in conjunction with the Titan Card. The new ID
number, however, does not mean that students, faculty and staff
members will need new Titan Cards. Titan Cards carry a separate
16-digit number unrelated to Social Security or ID numbers.
To learn more about the campuswide ID Project, go
to http://www.fullerton.edu/cwid.
To find out your new ID number, click on “Get Your CWID”
on the left-hand side of the page.
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