Every day, Stevens students are continually forced to place themselves at risk of identity theft, due to Stevens' continued use of social security numbers as student identification numbers.
George Mason University in Virginia recently suffered an attack on its internal servers. Attackers acquired the names and social security numbers of more than 30,000 students and faculty at the school.
This incident is not the first time that a college's servers have been cracked. In 2003, Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Texas at Austin also had private student information compromised.
These attacks should be a wake-up call to Stevens to stop using social security numbers as student identifiers. The ubiquity of social security numbers here is practically an invitation for someone to design a plan to capture them.
Our social security numbers are submitted with most of our assignments, they are used as our login to the Web for Students system, and they are used to track Duck Bills at off-campus establishments.
At least when social security numbers are confined to the campus environment, there is some sense of physical security, though the network and servers are a possible target for an attack. Once the number is used all over Hoboken, even that bit of security is lost.
Social security numbers play an important role in establishing one's identity. The number is frequently used to identify oneself to the government and for obtaining credit cards. Having your social security number 'stolen' opens you up to having your identity stolen. Clearing this up can take years and still damage your credit for the rest of your life.
There is no compelling reason for Stevens to continue to use social security numbers as student identifiers; instead, each student's ID number should be specific to Stevens only. This would limit the potential damage that could be caused if anyone obtained your number. It also greatly lessens the risks associated with widespread use of your social security number.
We do not have to settle for using our social security numbers; we should demand that the administration begin phasing them out immediately.