Awareness: October 2006 Archives

We've all heard about the chocolote bar for your password surveys, you've probably also heard about the fake credit card application and ID theft for a free t-shirt. What I saw this past weekend was only slightly better.

I was down at my alma mater's homecoming football game. After the game, I decided to check out old haunts by wandering though the music building. I found a signup envelop for Pep Band. Pep Band pays (very poorly) so people signing up for pep band have to include a University employment application, and a W-4. There was also a request for a copy of the applicants drivers license and Social Security Card.

So here in this unguarded unlocked university building hallway, I found 20-30 Pep Band applications. All of which included Social Security Number, Student ID number and home address. Some applications also had the requested copy of the drivers license and social security card.

Do people have no concept of protecting personally identifiable information?

Authority asked them to do something dangerous with their Personally Identifiable Info, not for a chocolate bar, but as part of the job application process. The paperwork submission process should not leave this information exposed in a hallway.