I remember when I was growing up, my grandfather would always tell me to remember my social security number, but never to give it to anyone. He said it was a number that was given only to me, and it could never be changed. Therefore, it was the only identity that could be used to tell who I really was.
When I started college, I realized that my special personal number, the number that I should always keep private, was expected to be included on every form, application, and document I filled out for the school. At first, my reaction was, “Hey, I don’t know who you are! I’m not just going to write down my number for you!” But this objection did not last for long.
Unfortunately, despite the obvious hazard of writing my number down for the gum-smacking student volunteer running the check-ins for the counseling office, I couldn’t make an appointment without coughing it up. I had to write my identity on an appointment request slip for every appointment I made. I even had to give it to the student technician who took the snap-shot for my school ID. Though all this seemed counter intuitive, it had become the status quo, and nobody else seemed to be bothered by it.
WELL, MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have probably all heard some news about the recent security breach of the database at UCLA. To me, it is no surprise that our colleges and universities are unable to keep our information safe. If someone wanted to, they could obtain the identities of countless students and staff just by looking through the paper trash of the student services offices, let alone hacking into the computers themselves.
Aside from the recent UCLA breach, since 2003, there have been a staggering number of security breaches involving student information of the databases at universities and colleges in the United States. The amount of affected students multiplies exponentially when one considers that the hacking is usually not discovered right away. Not only can hackers access the sensitive information of students that are currently enrolled at any given institution, but also to the information held on years worth of past students. The databases which have been compromised since 2003 include, but are not limited to, those of the following schools; The Metropolitan State College in Colorado, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, Boston College, Harvard business school, Duke business school, Stanford business school, Georgian Institute of Technology, University of Georgia, University of Southern Carolina, University of Delaware, Ohio University, Indiana University, UC Berkeley, George Mason University in Virginia, and UC San Diego.