SSN Information for staff
The University drafted its policy on the collection, maintenance, and dissemination of Social Security numbers in order to protect the privacy and legal rights of its faculty, staff, and students. This policy cannot be successful without the active participation of those staff members that have access to employee and student SSNs. SSNs should never be stored unencrypted on workstations, laptops, or other portable data storage devices. Nor should SSNs ever be sent through email.
The University has removed SSNs from most computing systems. Consequently access to SSNs is generally not needed by University faculty and staff. All employees are encouraged to review practices involving SSNs by,
- Questioning whether Social Security numbers are truly required for a given procedure or practice (can the UIN be used instead?)
- Ensuring that printed documents containing Social Security numbers are destroyed in a secure manner (e.g., shredder, confidential recycling bins)
- Reviewing reports released to third-parties - SSNs cannot be released outside of the University without the consent of the Social Security number Coordinators. The exception is the release to governmental bodies with an explicit legal right to SSNs, such as the IRS.
Federal law requires that anytime a Social Security number is requested, the electronic or physical form used to collect the number should be clearly marked as to whether this request is voluntary or mandatory. When requesting the SSN, you need to explain: 1) whether submission is mandatory or voluntary; 2) by what authority the number is solicited; and 3) what uses will be made of it. Taken together these three items comprise a disclosure statement. All disclosures statements require approval by the SSN Coordinators.
SSNs will still be maintained in U of I systems where appropriate. University employees with questions about the Social Security number policy should feel free to contact their campus SSN Coordinator.
An extended set of approved disclosure statements are also now online.