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New IDs offer protection, peace of mind by Cindy Abole Public Relations MUSC students and employees can soon enjoy peace of mind when it comes to protecting their personal information amid growing struggles with identity theft and other high tech fraud.      Beginning May 29, MUSC and its affiliates will limit the use of social security numbers (SSN) and, instead, assign personnel a permanent MUSC identification (ID) number for almost all identification and reporting purposes.      South Carolina’s Family Privacy and Protection Act of 2002 requires state agencies, boards, departments and entities to create and institute privacy policies and procedures that protect an individual’s personal information including their name, SSN, address, phone number, medical information, etc.      This change, affecting all current students, faculty and staff, was initiated in response to growing concerns regarding the widespread use of SSNs on MUSC reports and other identification. The new plan limits the use of SSNs only when business processes require their use when no alternative is available.      To accommodate this change, all current students, faculty and staff have been assigned a unique public number generated in the MUSC Identity Management system. This number will replace the use of SSNs for reporting and identification purposes only. It will not be used to authenticate that an individual is whom he/she represents themselves to be, which will remain one of the uses of the SSN. Other means, such as picture ID’s, passwords and other options, will be used for authentication purposes.   Also on May 29, faculty and staff will be able to access their individual numbers via MyRecords, a password-protected area of either the University or Medical University Hospital Authority Human Resources Web sites. Students will be able to access their numbers via the student portal WebAdvisor.      Additionally, new students, hires, contractors or long-term visitors also will be registered in the MUSC Identity Management system. The ID numbers assigned to new students and employees will be available at orientation and after completing the registration process.      For information, contact Mitchelle Morrison at 792-1949 (morrisom@musc.edu), or Stewart Mixon at 792-0888 (mixonsa@musc.edu).     Friday, May 4, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.