University Business - August 2006 - (Page 15)

U B E H I N D the NEWS Federal College Student Ouch Data Theft T H I S SPRING OHIO UNIVER Database Slammed sity joined the not-so-exclusive club of institutions dealing with the aftermath Program could potentially track students from grade school to workforce. of data breaches. For this school of nearly THE RECENTLY RELEASED DRAFT percent of the respondents opposed such a 17,000 undergraduates, a potentially report by the U.S. Secretary of Education's database, while 60 percent also believed col- costly lawsuit got thrown into the mix. Commission on the Future of Higher Edu- lecting this student data is costly and intru- A month after current and former cation calls for the creation of a national sive and does not solve any pressing issue. students were notified of the system The public is opposed to it, and the student unit record tracking system to col- leaks, alumni Donald Jay Kulpa and lect longitudinal data on college students House has already shown its opposition in Kenneth David Neben filed a class-ac- the Higher Education Act. The commission and that doesn't sit well with educators. tion suit in the State of Ohio Court of would do well to reconsider [this T h i s information would Claims. Besides seeking judgment that idea], said Anderson. be linked to individual students the university's acts and omissions in the Such an unfunded mandate through a unique identifier. It wake of the discovery were negligent and from the government to the higher could be potentially tied to infor- deliberately indifferent to the plaintiffs' education community for such a mation from the student's high constitutional right to privacy, the suit record keeping process will pose school or elementary records and requests class-wide relief in the form of an onerous burden on higher edu- follow the individual into the a court-administered credit monitoring cation, said Shi, noting that the workforce, said David Warren, and/or identity monitoring as well as David Warren plan contradicts the commission's president of National Association expenses, should an identity crime occur. of Independent Colleges and Universities stated goal of reducing the federal regula- Melissa Ezarik tory burden on higher ed. Estimates of the NAICU . Warren was joined in a July 6 telecon- cost to upgrade existing databases to comply Here's a look at the data important to this law- suit and what the numbers could mean for Ohio ference by David Shi, president of Furman with the program go as high as $1 million, University's pocketbook: University S.C. ; Katherine Will, president but would certainly be at least several hun- 600 Average number of hours often over a of Gettysburg College Pa. ; Christopher dred thousand dollars per institution. period of years an identity-theft victim spends recov- ering from the crime Why does the Department of Educa- Nelson, president, St. John's College Md. ; $1,400 Average out-of-pocket expenses a Loren Anderson, president of Pacific Lu- tion insist on pursuing such a database when victim incurs after an identity theft crime theran University Wash. ; Ralph Wagoner, the law currently precludes it under FERPA, $4.95 The monthly cost of a very basic credit monitoring service president of the Lutheran Educational Con- and when the Congress has voted categori- $12.95 The monthly cost of a common credit ference of North America; Rolf Wegenke, cally not to go forward with it? Warren monitoring service president of the Wisconsin Association of asked. He said the government has a rapa- 173,000 Individuals whose Social Security numbers were compromised by Ohio U data breaches Independent Colleges and Universities; and cious appetite for data, yet it doesn't use the $2.6 million $6.7 million* Rebecca Thompson, legislative director of voluminous amount of data already available Institution's cost, should the court order three months in a constructive way. the United States Student Association. of credit monitoring per person whose Social Security This is not a partisan issue, Wegenke The panel discussed the proposal as well number was compromised $140,000 Additional cost for the school, as the results of a NAICU-sponsored public stressed. It is a matter of student privacy should 100 people incur an average amount of ex- opinion survey conducted by Washington, and the security of personal information. penses battling an identity-theft crime D.C.-based Ipsos Public Affairs. Sixty-two Tim Goral $14 million Additional cost for the school, should 10,000 people incur an average amount of expenses battling an identity-theft crime SOUND BITE *An institution purchasing a service on behalf of individuals may be able to negotiate a significant discount. The credit bureau Ex- `A ll of a sudden, it seemed like we were adding on perian's security breach recovery program could provide a discount of up to 80 percent, for example. ` another university every week to look into. SOURCES: State of Ohio Court documents; Identity Theft Resource Center; Experian; TrueCredit.com a division of TransUnion ; Equifax. Michael Zweiback, assistant U.S. Attorney, Los Angeles, speaking about prosecuting hackers. universitybusiness.com August 2006 | 15 51 ddni.608etadpU MP 35:02:3 60/42/7 http://TrueCredit.com http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - August 2006

Contents
College Index
Advisory Board
Company Index
Editor's Note
People Watch
Sense of Place
Stats Watch
Viewpoint
Financial Aid
On the Hill
Admissions
Future Shock
An Education in AV Technology
Retention Intentions
Endowment Management
Good Data In, Good Data Out
Sticking with the Tried & True
Home, Sweet Home
Faculty Issues in Online Education
Internet Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - August 2006