Administrators are taking steps to ensure the safety of both students’ and the university’s personal information in the wake of a slew of phone and e-mail scammers targeting Northwestern students and administrators in the past few weeks.

“As a community we need to be aware, alert and vigilant to protect ourselves and university assets,” said Wendy Woodward, director of Northwestern University Information Technology.

Within NU, Woodward said her department is taking steps to increase the protection of student and university data. In a meeting Thursday, Woodward challenged her staff to increase education on identity and data theft.

Coincidentally, a suspicious phone call was placed to the NUIT offices yesterday requesting sensitive information about the university computer systems. When an employee asked for a phone number, the caller hung up.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, NUIT discussed educating students about “phishing,” which occurs when scammers attempt to send fraudulent e-mails disguised as legitimate companies and asking for personal information. NUIT recently added an alert to its “Get Control” Web site, warning students of the threat.

NUIT intends to hire a director of security, Woodward said. The post will be responsible for ensuring the university as a whole is paying attention to security threats. Woodward hopes to fill this position within the next two months.

Beyond protection, students also can be victims of identity theft by other means.

“Many college campuses use Social Security numbers as a student identification number,” said Jordana Beebe, communications director for Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San-Diego-based consumer privacy group. “With an exponential increase in identity theft, we feel that colleges are putting their students at risk.”

With the social security number being “the key” to credit records, Beebe said schools should minimize Social Security number usage.

“We try to encourage people not to use Social Security numbers,” said NU Associate Registrar Michael Maysilles.

The WildCARD Office no longer prints students’ Social Security numbers on the cards and the online Ph directory has new restrictions for off-campus users. Maysilles said officials are making a strong effort to restrict the Social Security numbers’ use in all arenas.

Social Security numbers also can be used to access credit information, receive utility services, rent apartments, find employment and access healthcare benefits, Beebe said.

NU already has precautions in place to protect against identity fraud. The university is bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Under that law, university officials cannot give out Social Security numbers but still can give out a wide range of public information about students including their name, local and home address and telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, school or college, class and major.

A student can choose to restrict release of this information, Maysilles said. In addition to efforts by NUIT, University Police also seek to educate the student body about identity theft.

Chuck Loebbaka, NU’s director of media relations, said UP may provide information about how to avoid scammers in their next “crime prevention posting.” UP could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Beebe called on NU officials to cooperate with other universities to increase education about identity theft.

“I think there probably isn’t a lot of consumer information in high school, and when people become of age, it is a good time to do education about identity Theft,” Beebe said.

Beebe also suggested the university work with other colleges to protect their students.

“What Northwestern is going through, is what schools nationwide are dealing with,” Beebe said.

Reach Robert Stein at [email protected].

How to protect yourself from ID theft:

 Memorize your Social Security number and passwords. Don’t record them on any papers you carry with you.

 Shred pre-approved credit applications and other financial documents before discarding them.

 Check your monthly credit card and bank statements for unusual activity.

 Do not download files sent to you by strangers or click on hyperlinks from people you don’t know.