Library privileges and $5 may not seem like much to lose, but imagine losing your student ID and waking up the next day with your identity stolen.

With identity theft as a growing concern to EC, students are required to get new IDs that no longer carry social security numbers and other vital information on the magnetic strips.

“The new IDs now read the student’s identification number and only that,” Harold Tyler, director of student development, said.

Tyler said that financial aid information is linked to Social Security numbers, and is thus also susceptible to being compromised when put in the wrong hands.

“(Social Security numbers) controlled everything that related to the students prior to the last few years,” Tyler said.

Tyler said that any thief with the technology to read a magnetic strip has the capacity to exploit the information on the card.

“(Identity thieves) would be able to look at some data, and we don’t want that to happen,” he said.

Sgt. Jonathan Ott said that in a time when identity theft was not prominent, using the Social Security numbers as identification was a standard practice; identity theft was rarely an issue.

Michael D’Amico, chief of police, said there were never any incidents of identity theft at EC.

Students who have not changed their IDs yet will not be able to access on-campus services, Tyler said.

The school is giving the students a transition time to have the cards changed, he said.

Tyler said students who lost their old IDs before changing them should not worry about information leaking, as long the card is reported.

Once reported, the old IDs will automatically become invalid, Tyler said.

New IDs may be obtained for free at the west lounge of the Student Activities Center. If lost, a new identification card costs $5.

“(Thieves) have gotten more sophisticated,” Tyler said.