By Kristian Serge Skov-Larsen
ksl@adm.au.dk
Seven Danish CPR numbers of named AU staff and students.That was what the UNIvers editorial staff found after a couple of hours on various internet search engines.
Two CPR numbers were found in research applications, while the rest were found in CVs and lists of publications – apart from one, which was found in an official PowerPoint presentation produced by an administrative department.
But even though it is a problem that confidential data about AU staff can still be found on the net, in general the situation has improved a great deal, says Mads R. Dahl, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health. He has been researching the field of data security in the health sciences for a number of years now.
“There will always be some sensitive personal data about university staff available on the net. Files can be copied very quickly; and unless you focus 100 per cent on this issue, things go wrong. But having said that, I’d like to underline that people’s awareness of data security has grown a great deal since we started our research three years ago,” he explains.
Identity theft
And unfortunately, there are good reasons for keeping your CPR number out of the clutches of the wrong people. In recent years a number of Danes have suffered from what is known as identity theft, with thieves using their CPR numbers to set up telephone subscriptions in the names of their victims – or to gain illegal access to their bank accounts.
So we all need to guard our CPR numbers carefully, underlines Mads R. Dahl.
“Generally speaking, mistakes are made because we are so keen to demonstrate a convincing and genuine picture of our research and the university as a whole when we teach, give lectures or present our results. But if you have access to confidential material you need to take extra care – otherwise you might involuntarily reveal more than you intended.”
