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Identity theft impacts businesses and consumers, and it's important that businesses institute safeguards to prevent identity theft - and its high cost. The articles below provide some tips and best practices for helping you prevent breaches of the information you store.

The negative effects of identity theft or a breach of information to a business can have long term and far reaching ramifications. (Item #1)   One of the keys to preventing identity theft, therefore, is to safeguard personal information within the workplace, whether it's a business, government agency, or nonprofit.
(Item #2)   Do the benefits of biometrics outweigh the risks? (Item #3)  

Guidance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can help you make smart, sound decisions if personal information you hold is compromised. (Item #4)   Your health as well as your finances can be compromised by medical identity theft. (Item #5)   Best practices for handling social security numbers are provided by the California Office of Privacy Protection. (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing about your concerns with regards to business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, please email me at [email protected]

Best Regards,

Bob Mellinger
President
Attainium Corp

Quote of the Week

"The United States today experiences much higher levels of identity theft, spam and government profiling
than Europe because we have failed to establish necessary legal safeguards."
- Marc Rosenberg -

Articles

1. Workplace Facts and Statistics
Identity theft affects both the consumer and the business community in a multitude of ways. The impact of this crime clearly touches business at all levels and from many directions. Included below are some of the statistics that demonstrate areas of concern for members of the business community.
http://www.idtheftcenter.org/workplace_facts.html

2. Prevent Identity Theft with Responsible Information-Handling Practices in the Workplace
True identity theft prevention resides in two arenas -- in the adoption of more effective application-screening procedures by the credit industry and the implementation of responsible information-handling practices by employers. This article focuses on the latter.
http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/PreventITWorkplace.htm

3. The case against biometric identity theft protection
Biometrics may be providing false that we can deploy one simple piece of technology that will significantly reduce the problem of identity theft. There is, however, an important weakness of this technology you should be aware of.
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=978C5F6B-1A64-67EA-E49E60F9906EC499

4. Dealing with a Data Breach
These days, it is almost impossible to be in business and not collect or hold personally identifying information - names and addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or other account numbers - about your customers, employees, business partners, students, or patients. If this information falls into the wrong hands, it could put these individuals at risk for identity theft.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/business/data-breach.html

5. Medical Identity Theft
Although medical identity theft is the least talked about form of identity fraud, it is one of the most potentially harmful because it is more difficult to resolve than other forms of identity theft and may put your health-and not just your finances-at risk. There are primarily three forms of medical identity fraud, each posing its own unique challenges and threats.
http://www.identitytheft.com/index.php/article/medical_identity_theft

6. Recommended Practices on Protecting the Confidentiality of Social Security Numbers
The broad use and public exposure of SSNs has been a major contributor to the growth in recent years in identity theft and other forms of fraud. The need to significantly reduce the risks to individuals of the inappropriate disclosure and misuse of SSNs, has led California to take steps to limit their use and display. While this document is quite long, pages 7-10 will give you the information you need to keep the social security numbers you have on file secure.
http://www.oispp.ca.gov/consumer_privacy/pdf/ssnrecommendations.pdf