A recent private data disclosure, which occurred when a researcher at N.C. State failed to remove personal identifying information (PII) from data after it was summarized, has forced the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to go to greater lengths to enforce cyber security, according to OIT officials.
According to OIT Security Officer Tim Gurganus, the researcher had been told by the Institutional Research Board (IRB) that they could use the PII in their analysis, but were to remove it after it had been summarized.
The researcher failed to follow procedure and the PII was disclosed — when the files were made into a website — and was faulted by the IRB, Gurganus said.
The data comprised names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of around 1800 elementary school students from a research project conducted from 2003 to 2006 that examined the effect of technology on academic performance, according to Marc Hoit, OIT vice chancellor.
Read the full story at the NC State Technician.
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