Gerry Smith writes about the growing amount of school kids’ data being stolen across the country. In the Huffington Post article, “In Push For Data, Schools Expose Students To Identity Theft” the author explains why. Data thieves want this information to commit identity theft. The author cites several recent cases:
- Hackers broke into the computer network of an El Paso, TX school district, They stole a database of about 63,000 students’ Social Security numbers.
- School officials mailed out 5,000 postcards with students’ Social Security numbers printed on the front in Wake County, NC.
- Social Security numbers of 8,000 Palatine, IL special education students were lost when laptops belonging to a state contractor were stolen.
- A former Broward County, FL high school teacher was sentenced to six months of house arrest for stealing the identities of students.
- A police officer for the Palm Beach County School District was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing the identities of former students and teachers.
The article says these incidents highlight the growing risk of school kids’ vulnerability to identity theft. Across the country, schools have become conduits for children’s pristine Social Security numbers. The students’ numbers are increasingly falling into the hands of credit-hungry identity thieves. The frequent data breaches have prompted calls for schools to stop collecting sensitive student data. The breaches have angered parents like Art Staehling, whose 14-year-old daughter was among 18,000 Nashville students who had their Social Security numbers accidentally exposed online for three months in 2009.
They left the gate wide open for data theft
“They left the gate wide open,” Mr. Staehling told The Huffington Post. “It’s clumsiness. There’s no excuse for it. If schools want that information, there should be some sort of penalty paid if they don’t guard it with their lives. I haven’t found a reason why they honestly need it.”
Schools collect students’ Social Security numbers as part of a campaign to more precisely track their progress. But privacy experts told Huff Post there are less risky ways to identify students. The privacy experts accuse schools of needlessly exposing children to identity theft by gathering their Social Security numbers. Mn then not securing them.
The push for collecting student data began under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Financial incentives in the 2009 stimulus package, including Race to the Top‘s $250 million in competitive grants drove schools to collect student social security numbers, according to Reidenberg.
The U.S. Department of Education has warned schools not to use students’ Social Security numbers in their databases. The Huff Post says the Feds urge schools to create other unique identifiers. The National Center for Education Statistics warned schools last fall that. They told educators that Social Security numbers are “the single most misused piece of information by criminals perpetrating identity thefts.”
School abuses student’s Social Security numbers
Despite the warnings, the collection and use of student’s Social Security numbers in K-12 schools remain “widespread.” An audit last year by Patrick O’Carroll, the Social Security Administration‘s inspector general. The IG found students’ Social Security numbers printed on transcripts, tests, and athletic education forms. According to the article, the audit concluded that schools were using the numbers “as a matter of convenience.” Mr. O’Carroll found there have been at least 40 data breaches of confidential student information at K-12 schools since 2005.
In his report, O’Carroll wrote.”We believe the unnecessary collection and use of Social Security numbers is a significant vulnerability for this young population. Each time a student provides his or her Social Security number, the potential for a dishonest individual to unlawfully gain access to, and misuse, the number increases.”
Read Part 2 here.
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Consumers Unions points out that Michigan law restricts how Social Security numbers can be used. In Michigan, SSNs cannot be printed on ID cards, intentionally communicated to the public, and/or publicly displayed or mailed within an envelope.
Related articles
- Young children can be identity-theft targets (goerie.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
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