The Illinois Identity Protection Act regulates the use of Social Security numbers by units of local government. In general, the law does the following regarding Social Security numbers:
- Regulates their collection
- Prohibits their use as passwords or otherwise to access a website
- Prohibits their use on a card or document, even if encoded or hidden on a magnetic strip or other technology
- Requires they be redacted from any documents disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act
- Requires adoption of a policy regarding identity protection
Because of IMRF's existing data security program, IMRF’s security for Social Security numbers meets the requirements of the Illinois Identity Protection Act.
IMRF has adopted a formal Identity Protection Policy and added this Policy to our staff compliance-training program.