COMPLIANCE CHATTER

Fall Series

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), University employees are required to protect student education records and the information contained in those records. Additionally, employees must ensure that any disclosure of education records and information is in compliance with the University's FERPA policy.

Inadvertent disclosure happens when personally identifiable information from a student's education record is unintentionally shared or made available to individuals who do not have the appropriate authorization. Importantly, an inadvertent disclosure may occur internally within UConn and is not limited to an external disclosure of information.

It is everyone’s responsibility to take time to safeguard education records and information. Here are some tips to help you easily do that:

• Use a secure file sharing system, like SharePoint, rather than sending large files such as a spreadsheets containing student information over email;
• If using SharePoint to share documents, be sure to create new files rather than editing and reusing existing files to ensure previous versions of the document are not accessed;
• If you use email to share student information or records, be sure to double-check the recipients and their email addresses before hitting send;
• When emailing a group of students, use the Bcc line to prevent disclosure of individual student information to the entire group
• Do not share or discuss student information with other employees unless they need to know as part of their official duties with UConn
• Do not share or discuss student information publicly or on social media  

Swift action can lessen the impact of a privacy incident and can mitigate the consequences. If inadvertent disclosure occurs, contact the Privacy Officer at privacy@uconn.edu to inform them of the incident and get additional guidance on how to manage the issue.

If the disclosure occurred over email, try to recall the email using the recall function in Outlook. When sensitive information, such as social security numbers, is inadvertently disclosed, the Privacy Officer may refer you to ITS for additional assistance.

Review additional Compliance Clips and Chatters.

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