Data and File Security

A recently enacted state law, and recently distributed OAA policy statements, makes the Department of History liable for the financial costs incurred if any member of the Department (faculty, staff, graduate student, student employee) compromises sensitive data. Sensitive or restricted data includes student social security numbers, grades and medical history.

Download the Department of History Data Security Policy (September 2007)

Destroying Sensitive Data

Deleting a file is not as simple as it sounds. After deleting you will need to empty your trash/recycle bin, which still leaves the file on your hard drive in a form that can be retrieved with minimal tech skills. Several easy and free programs exist to “shred” digital files, such as Simple File Shredder 3.2 which is available here as well as the Faculty, Staff and Grad resource pages. Also, defragmenting your hard drive periodically will also help ensure that deleted files stay deleted.

Search Your Computer for Social Security Numbers

The Buckeye Secure site will walk you through the steps required to search your computer for social security numbers: http://buckeyesecure.osu.edu/SafeComputing/FindSSN

You can also set up an appointment in the Goldberg Instructional Center to have a work study student come to your office to identify files with Social Security numbers on your OSU computer.

Internet Safety

Browser Cache and History
Deleting your browser cache and history: Your computer (your internet browser) stores data and tracks most of your internet activity.  Each browser has different ways to delete “personal information” (as it is called) and steps to do this in Explorer 7 are outlined below. Your browser stores the following information when you use the internet:

• Copies of visited web pages, including images and content (you can delete this or set it to delete on exit: TOOLS>INTERNET OPTIONS>GENERAL>BROWSING HISTORY>SETTINGS)
• Copies of content files you view online such as Word docs, PDFs and PowerPoint files (you can delete this or set it to delete on exit: TOOLS>INTERNET OPTIONS>GENERAL>BROWSING HISTORY>SETTINGS)
• Cookies that are used to track your internet habits and store your personal information (you can set you browser to not accept cookies TOOLS>INTERNET OPTIONS>PRIVACY or some browsers like Firefox and Opera can be set to delete cookies on exit)
• Site History that logs all of the sites you have visited (this can be set to 0: TOOLS>INTERNET OPTIONS>GENERAL>BROWSING HISTORY>SETTINGS)
• Password and usernames (this can be changed at TOOLS>INTERNET OPTIONS>CONTENT>AUTOCOMPLETE>SETTINGS)
• Download History that logs everything you have downloaded (this can be deleted or set to delete on exit in Firefox, Opera and other browsers)

The following site offers a detailed illustrated guide to deleting your browsing history in Internet Explorer: http://browsers.about.com/od/internetexplorertutorials/ss/iedeletehistory_4.htm

E-Mail Attachments
Additionally your e-mail program (Outlook, Eudora) saves attachments that may not be deleted when you delete the associated e-mail. This can be changed in the options/preferences settings for your program (for Eudora: TOOLS>OPTIONS>ATTACHMENTS>DELETE ATTACHMENTS WHEN EMTPYING TRASH). Webmail, however, does not necessarily store anything on your computer unless you have opened or saved an attachment.