Security Standards for Social Security and/or Credit Card Numbers

8/23/2007

There is a growing security concern with Social Security and/or credit card numbers within unprotect files.  Any computer with files which are not password protected and containing Social Security and/or credit card numbers is considered a security risk.  Please read the following web link for information on the security standards for Social Security Numbers:

http://www.security.vt.edu/knowtherules/security%20standards.doc

To help you identify computers which may have a Social Security and/or credit card security issues; please follow the procedures below to determine if your computer is a security risk.

1. To scan for Social Security and credit card numbers:

a. Please download, install, and run Cornell University?s Spider Social Security and credit card number scanner application. http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/tools/spider-windows.html

i. Application Notes:

1. Install the latest version of Microsoft .Net Framework.

2. Time consuming; consider running the application overnight.

2. To scan for social security numbers only:

a. Please download and run VT's SSN scanning application. http://filebox.vt.edu/users/rtilley/public/find_ssns/index.html

i. Application Notes:

1. Only Social Security Numbers are detected.

2. For additional documentation on VT?s SSN via Ohio State, see web link http://buckeyesecure.osu.edu/findSSN.html.

If you determined your computer is at risk, please take steps to protect any files that prove to contain confidential data. Protection steps may include encrypting files, moving files to offline storage, or deleting files.  Please call or e-mail the electronics shop for help in removing or protecting confidential data.

Additional Computer Security Web Resources

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