University Park, Pa. -- Identity theft is soaring to new heights in America. As many as seven million U.S. adults have been victims of identity theft — the use of an individual's personal information to commit fraud or theft — in the fiscal year ending this past June, according to a recent report by Gartner Inc. This is a 79 percent increase in reported cases over that 12-month period, the report continues.
Surprisingly, victims aren't just falling prey to strangers or gangs of professional criminals.
"More than half of all identity theft ... is committed by criminals that have established relationships with their victims, such as family members, roommates, neighbors or co-workers," said Avivah Litan, vice president and research director for Gartner Inc.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, these criminals are able to steal identification numbers by using a wide variety of hi- and low-tech methods that include intercepting personal information transmitted over the Internet; illegally viewing business or personnel files; and rummaging through trash for personal data. Regardless of how someone's identity is stolen, it can take the victim years to correct the damage done to his or her personal and financial files.
Penn State takes protective measures
With the mounting concerns over identity theft and the recognition that Social Security numbers (SSNs) are linked to a vast amount of personal information, Penn State recently has undertaken a project to replace SSNs as the primary identifier of faculty, staff and students.
"An individual's Social Security number is now considered confidential information. The University's use of it as a main identifier is no longer practical and may be considered by some to compromise its confidential nature," said President Graham B. Spanier.
The scope of this multi-phased project is such that it will impact academic and administrative procedures across the University, particularly those used by front-line staff to carry out customer requests. Once the project is completed in 2005, the University's use of SSNs will be restricted. Although the University still will be required to collect SSNs for reporting and taxation purposes, their use will be strictly limited and will be outlined in official University policy.
When the changeover is complete, the University will be assigning a unique Penn State Identification Number as the new primary identifier. This new identifier will be a nine-digit number (formatted as 9-9999-9999) called the PSU-ID. To avoid potential confusion with SSNs, which also consist of nine digits, all PSU-IDs will begin with 9 since the Social Security Administration currently does not use 9 as the first digit of SSNs.
Planning the transition
Due to the wide breadth of this project, an SSN project team has been assembled with a full-time staff to act as the central coordination point for the conversion. Representatives from around the University have been designated to serve as the local SSN project contacts for their colleges, departments and campuses. With guidance from the SSN project team, these representatives will oversee the planning and execution of their unit's conversion efforts.
From Sept. 23 to Oct. 22, the SSN project team will conduct both regional visits and University Park meetings to build awareness of the project throughout the University. These meetings will help University representatives begin the planning process that will be necessary for each unit to make an efficient transition.
It is expected that each local SSN project contact will set up a planning team. The contact will lead the team in researching the impact the project will have on his or her area and document where conversion steps, changes to procedures and form updates will be necessary. An SSN project planning guide will be provided to ensure that academic and administrative procedures and data under each unit's control are appropriately identified for conversion. Planning the conversion activities in each unit will be key to successfully synchronizing all of the changes that must be made across the University.
Conversion of central systems
To administer these changes, the University's central business and student systems (IBIS and ISIS) will be converted during the winter break of 2004-2005. The new PSU-IDs will become effective when University business resumes on Jan. 3, 2005.
Converting the IBIS and ISIS systems is only one component of this multi-faceted initiative, however. Like the year 2000 preparations, the SSN project is a University-wide effort that will require changes in all colleges, departments and campuses.
Every University office will need to review local business processes and forms, id+ card applications and departmental systems to determine the impact this project will have on their area. Any business processes, forms and systems that currently use SSNs as a primary identifier will need to change to reflect the usage of the new PSU-IDs.
Another key component of this project is the replacement of all Penn State id+ cards. New cards will be issued to faculty, staff and students before the end of fall semester 2004, but won't become effective until a later date. These cards will be visually and magnetically distinct from their predecessors. A new card design is being created with the new PSU-ID number to be printed on the face of the cards.
Keep informed
For more information about this project, visit the official SSN project Web site at http://ais.its.psu.edu/SSN