Protected Data at UC Santa Barbara

Many laws, regulations, and policies protect different types of data. Terms and acronyms for these types of data are often used, but it is not always clear what data falls into each of these categories. Some of the types of protected data often collected and maintained by campus departments include the following:

• Personal Information as defined by the Information Practices Act of 1977 (IPA)
  • An individual’s first name or first initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements, when either the name or the data elements are not encrypted
    • Social Security Number.
    • Driver’s license number or California identification card number.
    • Account number or credit or debit card number, in combination with any required security code, access code, or password that would permit access to an individual’s financial account.
    • Medical information.
      For purposes of this section, “medical information” means any information regarding an individual’s medical history, mental or physical condition, or medical treatment or diagnosis by a health care professional.
    • Health Insurance Information.
      For purposes of this section, “health insurance information” means an individual’s health insurance policy number or subscriber identification number, any unique identifier used by a health insurer to identify the individual, or any information in an individual’s application and claims history, including any appeals records.
    • Information or data collected through the use or operation of an automated license plate recognition system, as defined in Section 1798.90.5.
  • A user name or email address, in combination with a password or security question and answer that would permit access to an online account.
• Student Records as defined by the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and UC policy includes:
  • Those records that contain information directly related to a student and that are maintained by a University of California campus, the University of California Office of the President, or by any organization authorized to act on behalf of the University.
  • Student records include, but are not limited to, academic evaluations, including student examination papers, transcripts, test scores and other academic records; general counseling and advising records; disciplinary records; and financial aid records, including student loan collection records.
  • Student records do not include the following:
    • Records of instructional, supervisory, and administrative personnel and educational personnel ancillary to those persons, which
      1. Are kept in the sole possession of the maker of the record; and
      2. Are not accessible or revealed to any other individual, except to an individual who performs on a temporary basis the duties of the individual who made the record.
    • Campus police records used solely for law enforcement purposes.
    • Employment records that do not depend on the fact that the employee is a student.
    • Health records.
    • Applicant records for students who do not enroll.
    • Records created after the individual is no longer a student (alumni records).
    • Grades on peer-graded papers before they are officially collected and recorded.