Universities, Students Combat Identity Theft
Higher Education Works to Protect Personal Student Information
Oct 9, 2009
Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person’s name or personal information, such as a Social Security number, driver’s license number, credit card number, telephone number or other account numbers, without permission.
Identity thieves find university campuses lucrative places to commit these crimes. Thieves use stolen personal information to open credit accounts, bank accounts, telephone service accounts, and make major purchases
University Personal Information Protection Needs Constant Focus
Information can be used to take over existing accounts or to open new accounts. For students in particular, identity theft can result in damage to a credit rating and denial of credit.
A good example of a university personal information protection program is found at Michigan State University. The Identity Theft Partnership in Prevention program can be described as an ideal identity theft program in a university setting.
Identity theft victims receive support through Michigan State University’s program and, along with investigators, prosecutors, courts and the community, receive education and training.
The Michigan State program also includes a university research component that will result in informed and well-developed policy.
Examples at universities describing the rising problem of identity fraud and theft include:
- Students personal information is exposed on a hacked server, identifying years of credit card numbers
- Stolen computers includes hundred of students’ Social Security or Social Insurance numbers and addresses
- An email scam results in hundreds of students providing bank account numbers to identity theft criminals
Increases in personal information theft at universities, however, is not just traced to compromised servers. In many cases, identity theft and fraud happens because of stolen or lost laptops, unsecured emails and a lack of awareness among students, staff and faculty about the importance of securing data.
Identity Theft Prevention Programs Include Education
The rising problem of student identity theft is being met with a number of prevention programs by universities, banks and government. For example, in the provincial government in Ontario, Canada promotes a checklist for students and youth to prevent identity theft including:
- Campus computers and wireless hotspots are not always secure. Students should not view personal information, such as accessing banking websites to perform transactions, on university computer networks.
- Passwords should be changed often and antivirus and anti-spyware on laptops should be updated regularly.
Identity Theft Victims Include University Students
Students should also be careful of signing up for a variety of credit cards. Credit companies tend to market heavily to youth and students in higher education, so be aware of the interests rates and read the fine print on the credit card agreement.
When using social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, students should keep all personal information private. This includes phone numbers, address, date of birth and surname. Thieves constantly patrol campuses and websites to collect this personal information and steal an identity.
Identity theft and personal information protection are important issues at university campuses worldwide. Good prevention programs by universities and some personal attention to these issues by students are the best ways to curb this concerning problem.
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