Re: Locating Personally Identifiable Information

[Doug Markiewicz <dmarkiew+educause () ANDREW CMU EDU>]

> (1) Which tool are they using?

Carnegie Mellon has rolled out Identity Finder for the Windows platform.  For the OSX platform we are currently recommending 
Cornell's Spider tool but we are also pushing for an expedited release of Identify Finder for OSX.

> (2) How is the tool being deployed? E.g. Do you just make it available
> for use by your staff? Do you have support staff who run the tool for
> individuals who request it or can individuals run it themselves?  Is it
> mandatory or voluntary to use the tool?

We have made the tool available to all students, faculty and staff within the US.  It is not mandatory.  We try to avoid 
"mandatory" initiatives.  The tool is self service and we've released a survey to collect some general information 
related to what individuals find.  For example:  Did you find PII?  Why did you choose to store this PII locally instead of using a 
central storage function?  etc... We avoided any solutions that would centrally collect the results of searches because we felt 
acceptance of such a tool would be much lower.  We did some campaigning with the deans of our various colleges and some other groups 
to help gain support for the initiative.

Hope this helps.  If you have more specific questions, let me know.


--
Doug Markiewicz
Information Security Office
Carnegie Mellon University
Phone: 412-268-1329
Mobile: 412-310-7112