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Berkeley Grads' Identity Data Stolen
yali writes "Did you get a graduate degree from Berkeley? Or maybe you just applied but didn't go there? If so, your identity may have been stolen. A laptop was stolen containing names, social security numbers, birthdates, and addresses of grad students, alumni, and applicants. University police suspect that the thief just wanted the laptop, but the irony of California's mandatory notification law is that the thief may now know they have something even more valuable. Berkeley has set up a website with information on the breach."
Windows, love it or hate it, makes it very easy to secure your data on a laptop. Just right click, and buried somewhere in there (Advanced options or something) tick the Encrypted option.
Better still, just create a directory (C:\Encrypted), and encrypt the folder, and all subdirectories.
Of course, there are issues with losing the encryption key, but as it's a laptop, and probably only has the one harddrive, I would expect the person to be keeping a backup somewhere else.
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umm, sir, Berkeley is a State University... University of California. It in fact might be one of the best public universities in the country, alongside UT Austin, UW Seattle, Georgia Tech, and that probably wraps up my knowledge of US Public Universities.
Trivia - who is the highest paid state official in California...?
The coach of the UCLA Football team.
M.
They're not unique forever, because the government recycles them after a few years.
Insightful? This is patently false. There are some instances of multiple people having the same SSN, but these were accidental, and not intentional, and the government will issue a new SSN for people who are in this situation.
why can't they just generate an artificial ID number for all their students?
Read my reply to the parent. The school definitely needs your SSN. It probably shouldn't be used as a primary key, since there's a (very slim) chance it's not going to be unique, and not all students will have an SSN. But don't the vast majority of foreign students have a government issued ID number already (just not to be used for employment purposes)?
Berkeley does NOT use your SSN for your student number. It does, however need your SSN to provide you with federal financial aid and work. Since virtually EVERY grad student falls into one of these catagories they need the SSN.
Most schools will use an ITIN assigned by the IRS for foreign nationals, because they often need to pay taxes on earnings/whatnot but have no SSN.
Q20: Are Social Security numbers reused after a person dies?
A: No. We do not reassign a Social Security number (SSN) after the number holder's death. Even though we have issued over 415 million SSNs so far, and we assign about 5 and one-half million new numbers a year, the current numbering system will provide us with enough new numbers for several generations into the future with no changes in the numbering system.
hackers of the world unite!
AFAIK, foriegn students do receive SSN #s, but an SSN # doesn't entitle you to social security benefits. Everyone who is not on a short term visa is required to get one. I hosted a student intern from Argentina here at my school and had to help her get all this stuff.
Monstar L
Generally, social security numbers are used for things relating to schools, banking/investing/fincial activities, and government documents like tax returns.
the government does NOT recycle them! There are only around a billion possible #'s though, so at some point they will have to be recycled. (SSN's are assigned randomly or sequentially, some of the digits mean something.) How SSN's work
Personal data need to be treated as government certification of Secret documents
First, I think you mean classification, not certification.
Second, there is a reason and a definition behind each classification. For example, the definition of SECRET according to the Defense Security Service (available here (scroll down)) is as follows:
SECRET. The designation that shall be applied only to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe. (emphasis mine)
Nutshell: yes, personal information should be protected; no, it does not warrant the same protection as classified information.
or at least give it Collateral classification level treatment
Finally, Collateral is not a classification; it is a category of information classification. Our friends at DSS clarify the issue here:
The current classification system starts with three levels of classification (Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret), often referred to collectively as collateral.
Please do some research before providing erroneous information. (For many years I worked in positions where I was required to know these things.)
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Last summer, I received a letter from the University I attended. They said that a computer system containing records for just about all current and former students had been compromised, and that it was possible our personal information (including SSN, etc.) had been stolen.
This is obviously not a unique situation.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah