Articles and Talks
Photo IDs with SSNs: Say goodbye
This is the March 2008 CIO column for Computing@UW-Madison
Every time I get an email, I think twice before I open it. Even emails that seem to be completely innocent often raise my "this might be a scam" antennae. It is sad that electronic communications can leave us so vulnerable, but we're doing something about it.
While the amount of spam making it to our inboxes has been sharply reduced, phishing schemes are becoming more sophisticated and prevalent. Most phishing schemes try to get us to open an email and then divulge some personal information by responding to the message or going to a Web site. We should not store or provide personal or financial data unless absolutely necessary. Our best defense against phishing is to not respond or to take no action unless we are absolutely certain that our actions are safe.
Even if you suspect that an email asking for information is legitimate, you should always do a little checking before you respond.
As electronic deception and fraud escalate, individuals must protect their own personal, banking and credit information. This is an arms race. Our service providers try to stay ahead of the scams, but we can't assume they're succeeding.
Your Social Security number (SSN) is one piece of personal information that the bad guys especially covet, so we are taking steps to avoid storing or using SSNs unless absolutely necessary. An SSN can only be compromised if we use it or store it.
We recently announced the final phase of the elimination of SSNs on photo ID cards. As of February 1, about 8,000 UW-Madison Photo IDs still contained SSNs. By mid-April, those IDs will no longer be accepted for business at UW-Madison. If you have a photo ID that displays an SSN, please get a new ID card.
By the time you read this, we will have notified those holding SSN-based UW ID cards of the time and place for obtaining a new card. Details were still being worked out at press time.
From a broader perspective, we will also initiate a review of all UW-Madison information security processes. This work will be led by an Information Safeguarding Task Force that will set guidelines for policy, education, and information handling that will fundamentally change how the campus manages our most precious data.
Ensuring the safety of campus data should be everyone's priority. So check your UW Photo ID. If you see your Social Security number on it, replace the card right away.
~Ron Kraemer, CIO
See past CIO columns.