Universities Weblog

College students know: they're often viewed as simply a social security number. In fact, test forms and on-campus offices frequently request your number instead of your name. This information, along with a wide array of other sensitive personal information, swells within the computers at your campus.

Certainly, this practice makes the retrieval of information more convenient, but just how dangerous is this? Inside Higher Ed takes an interesting, though frightening, look into that question.

Colleges and universities are a gold mine of data: personal information about students and employees, the fruits of research efforts, information about the reading habits of library patrons, even patient data for institutions with medical schools. That store of information — and the fact that the institutions often don't have sufficient security procedures or clearcut privacy policies — make them targets both for identity thieves and for government officials seeking sensitive data, appropriately or not.

"Universities are unique in the volume and sensitivity of the data we collect. We do poorly in dealing with policy, and the failure to take action is troubling," Fred H. Cate, director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at indiana university, told dozens of university chief information officers at a policy conference sponsored by Educause, a higher education technology group.

Sobering stuff. Can you imagine unnamed parties gaining access to the information needed to look into everything from your credit card purchases to your medical history? Can you imagine having your identity stolen, all because an institution you trusted was not properly prepared to guard that information?

What do you think? Should institutions of higher education make improving this situation a top priority? Has your school done anything to help?

(Photo Source: iLord Images)

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