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Social Security Numbers and Security
You may have heard in the news recently about the security breach at UCLA which exposed the personal information of as many as 800,000 current and former students and employees. While this is all fresh in our minds, it seemed a good opportunity to reiterate the importance of discretion when working with this sort of personal information.
While we should be careful with all student information, North Central College is specifically required by several pieces of federal legislation to protect Social Security Numbers (SSNs), including:
- FERPA (Family, Educational Rights to Privacy Act)
- The Privacy Act
- Gramm-Leach-Billey Act
- Social Security Privacy Act
Social security numbers should be used internally only when it is necessary for the completion of your job. If they do need to be used, they should never be left out unattended, whether as part of documents or on a computer screen. If documents using SSNs must be created for long-term use, they should be stored in a secure place; when they are no longer needed, they should be shredded.
Social security numbers should be released by North Central College to entities outside of the College only as mandated by law for items such as IRS reporting to state and federal governments, benefit purposes, immigration law, and student loans; or when permission is granted by the individual as an affirmative or explicit (opt in) choice; or when Legal Counsel has approved the release.
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