Identity theft is an intricate crime of numbers.

On June 17, MasterCard revealed to more than 68,000 card holders that a breach in security had occurred, potentially exposing them to credit card fraud.

A similar case happened in April through Wharton Center when 40,000 patrons were notified that a computer hacker had broken into their server and tampered with credit card information.

In fact, the number of identity theft complaints reported in Michigan has grown from 6,566 to 7,307 in the past two years, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Since MSU has access to students' and faculty members' most personal numbers - such as their Social Security numbers, bank account information or drivers license number - officials at MSU are working to ensure that students and faculty are not among the numbers of future victims.

Earlier this month, an adjunct professor at a Florida community college was charged with inappropriately using three students' personal information to open several credit cards at department stores. But with major security upgrades taking place this summer, MSU officials do not believe these kind of scenarios could happen to the university's affiliates.

David Gift, the vice provost of Libraries, Computing & Technology, said equipment the university is adding will better detect malicious activities and allow future protection, thus setting a standard for other universities.

"ID theft is a major hassle for people who have experienced it, even if they haven't suffered financial losses," Gift said. "A lot of time, recovery from ID theft can take six to 12 months and a great deal of inconvenience.

"There are thousands of ways for people to hack in; we are learning how to block the pads so it is very difficult to do," he said.

At MSU, each student is issued an eight-digit personal identification number, or PID, instead of using an individual's Social Security number. Together, the PID and the student's computer network ID password provide a more complicated process toward accessing information for those intending misuse.

Judith Collins, director of MSU Identity Theft Partnerships in Prevention and associate professor of Criminal Law, said professors have access to a student's PID number in order to post grades, but broadcasting such information is prohibited.

Associate Registrar Dugald McMillan said the policy of separate numbers has been in place since before World War II.

"One advantage that MSU has had, that in the days before World War II a decision was made to assign student numbers to students," he said. "As a result we have always had a separate ID number, when a lot of other universities have used Social Security numbers."

McMillan said the PID number doesn't provide access to any services outside campus, which has always been the vulnerability associated with using Social Security numbers.

Prior to this summer, Western Michigan University used students' Social Security numbers for identification.

WMU Associate Registrar Carrie Cumming said student concern and the recent news coverage of identity theft inside universities was the reason for the change.

"We were quite happy to get away from it. There were a lot of factors involved in the decision to move to a new system," she said.

Western Michigan's new system is similar to MSU's because each student receives a randomly generated personal number.

MSU also began issuing identification swipe cards eight years ago, which provides limited information like the student's PID number and the student's picture. A magnetic strip on the back works with software intended to identify the person.

"The MSU ID card is a passive document - it just identifies you," McMillan said. "So wherever you use it, like in a dining hall, that unit has a file of eligible people, and when the card is swiped, it just clarifies whether you are an eligible person."

Graduate student and Environmental and Geological Science Department teaching assistant Malee Jinuntuya said she is not concerned about identity theft on campus but would be worried if certain events were to occur.

"If someone hacked into the computer, I would be concerned," she said. "I am an international student, and everything is in the registrar's office computers - it would just be so easy to take."

Scott Thomas, client services division manager for the Academic Computing & Network Services Department, said in addition to the major computer system changes, there are changes being made to MSU's Webmail. The main purpose is to stop "phishing," an online scam of misleading e-mail messages posing as financial institutions. Phishing e-mails typically ask you to click on a link and then take users to a false Web site asking users to provide personal and financial information.

"We are trying to educate people that refutable institutions would not be sending e-mails like this," he said. "By fall, we expect the MSU e-mail system to catch these things."

Collins said although measures are being taken to stifle identity theft at its base, all methods aren't foolproof.

"I wish young people would really consider the fact that they need to be careful with who they give info to," Collins said. "Sometimes I have the feeling, in speaking to student groups, that the students don't take it quite as seriously as they should."

"I was once young and I know."