More safety measures needed

In early February, more than 2,500 students found out that their Social Security numbers had been downloaded by a hacker when he breached University security. In a separate June incident, a hacker got access to 1,700 individuals' Social Security numbers through the School of Music's Web site in another security breach. This past Wednesday, in the midst of the University Division relocating from Maxwell Hall to Ashton Center, several boxes containing information such as Social Security numbers and payroll stubs were left unattended in the hallways, accessible to anyone who wanted to look at them. It's time for these security breaches to stop.\nGoing away to college is a big step for many people, their first opportunity to live away from home, away from the security of living under the roof of their family. A lot of trust is given to the place where the student decides to go. When one leaves for college, they are worrying more about whether or not they will pass their first class, or making friends, not worrying about if their Social Security number will be stolen because of mistakes made by administration and staff during their time there. \nYet this is a problem that students here at IU must now begin to worry about unless steps are taken to correct the errors that have occurred in the past year. A big way to help eliminate this problem is to change what a person uses as their student ID. For most, their student ID is their Social Security number. This gets used everywhere, from registering for classes to even being posted up outside classrooms to show grades. Theoretically, a person could walk through the hallways of a building here at IU and take numerous Social Security numbers for their own devious use, putting the student in an awkward position of potential credit fraud or even finding their bank account emptied. \nAn option is available to students when they come here to have a number assigned to them instead of simply using their Social Security number. While this is good, the option should be taken away and made a University policy. IU is one of the few universities that have students use their Social Security numbers as their student ID instead of a randomly assigned number they receive when they register. Because of the recent breaches in security here at the school in the past year, it is time that IU join its fellow Big Ten Universities and change the student ID system to being randomly assigned numbers and not Social Security numbers. Then, perhaps students could get back to worrying about their first big midterm instead of if they will leave IU with a degree and a ruined financial future at the hands of a hacker.\n