Protecting PII

To ensure that we are not storing inappropriate personally-identifiable information (PII) on our computers, over the next few weeks, OET technicians will be installing Identity Finder. This is a software application designed to find social security numbers, credit card numbers, and passwords.

Once installed, we ask that you run Identity Finder on your computers. The time a scan takes to complete varies on the amount of data scanned and the speed of your computer.  Identity Finder is very thorough, and you can expect to leave the scan running overnight.  False positives have been minimal.

If found, files with PII should be deleted or encrypted.  The University offers a licensed copy of Identity Finder for faculty-, staff- and University-owned computers.