Oct. 10--Spurred by the recent theft of a vendor's laptop computer containing sensitive information on more than 84,000 alumni and unaffiliated donors, UND's Alumni Association decided Thursday to stop using Social Security numbers to track those individuals.

The association's management group also decided Thursday to devise new ways of transacting business by credit card so those credit card numbers won't have to be stored in the association's computerized records.

"We believe this will be an evolving trend" for alumni groups nationwide, said Tim O'Keefe, executive vice president of the UND Alumni Association and its sister agency, the UND Foundation.

O'Keefe emphasized that no breach of the confidential information stored on the stolen laptop has occurred and that he remains confident none will occur.

But in conversations with other alumni leaders, he said, he has become convinced "that the growing problem of identity theft is going to force the Social Security number to disappear as a primary tracking mechanism.

"We believe we will be in the forefront" of a fundamental shift in the way academic institutions maintain connections with alumni, he said. "It's simply the right thing to do."

Not alarmed

UND alumni and donors whose information could have been compromised in the recent theft of a software vendor's laptop computer appear not overly alarmed by the situation.

The alumni body and UND Foundation "have always worked with the utmost professionalism," said Philip McKenzie, an alumnus and a vice president at Digi-Key in Thief River Falls, one of the world's largest distributors of electronic components.

"I believe that their processes for data protection were thorough and reasonable," McKenzie said.

"But all systems have flaws," he said. "I'm glad the association has provided access to credit monitoring, and I would recommend all alumni who were affected to engage that service immediately. I'm personally going to change my passwords -- just as we are all constantly reminded to do."

Fewer than a dozen alumni had called or e-mailed the UND Alumni Association to ask questions or express concern since the problem was disclosed Tuesday, O'Keefe said Thursday before going into an alumni managers meeting where the decision was made to move away from Social Security numbers.

Letters are being sent this week to the more than 84,000 people whose information could have been compromised, and the situation has received widespread media attention. The first batch of letters went out Wednesday to alumni in the Red River Valley.