As a member of the IT Security team, I regularly have students emailing me looking for cybersafety guidance. However, recently I have noticed a concerning trend , student IDs are showing up in these emails. While I am aware that many instructors and professors ask students to include their ID in correspondence to confirm their identity, the place for this information is not in the email signature.

When the student ID is in the signature, it gets sent to every person you email. Even if you only use your MRU email to converse with University members, not everyone on campus should have this information.

Student IDs are used by the University to uniquely identify you. That is why your instructor/professor is asking for it. With that information and your name, someone can impersonate you. They could use this information to view your records, access banking information, drop you from classes and generally wreak havoc on your life.

While putting your student ID in your email signature can save you time, it can come at a great cost. Instead, create an email template that contains your student ID in the body.  When you need to email your instructor or professor, use this template. This little extra effort can protect you from a lot of grief later on.