Identity theft

In today’s information age we store our information various ways from hard copies, to storing our information on our computers and servers. Our most personal information: Date of Birth, Social Security Numbers, is stored by various companies, organizations, and the Federal Government. So in 1974 the United States realized it was storing lots of personal information on its citizens and enacted the privacy act of 1974, in which it states that “no agency will disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains” So how can we protect ourselves, they’ll always be someone out to obtain your information. The Definition to (PII) according to the Department of Labor website is- “Any representation of information that permits the identity of an individual to whom the information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means. Further, PII is defined as information: (i) that directly identifies an individual (e.g., name, address, social security number or other identifying number or code, telephone number, email address, etc.) or (ii) by which an agency intends to identify specific individuals in conjunction with other data elements, i.e., indirect identification. (These data elements may include a combination of gender, race, birth date, geographic indicator, and other descriptors). Additionally, information permitting the physical or online contacting of a specific individual is the same as personally identifiable information. This information can be maintained in either paper, electronic or other media.” In essence anything can be used to figure out who you are. Protecting your information comes from various sources either from the place your information is stored in, to annual training teaching you how to protect your information. What if your information is compromised? Different companies have their way of dealing with information being compromised, they may report it to a certain department that has been designated as dealing with the loss of information, where they’ll make the decision on how to handle the situation, on some occasions the company or individual will outsource the problem to outside agencies (i.e. Law Enforcement), for further assistance on the matter. A lot of thought goes into how reporting the loss of important information goes out, from how they will tell the people their information has been compromised (i.e. email call website), to how long will the information be available for. While companies and organizations have their way of dealing with the loss of information, you must take your own steps to further protect yourself and contact the appropriate organizations and explain your situation. Many companies offer credit check programs that tell you when your information is being used without your consent, these programs are useful in helping you determine if your information has been stolen by someone else, if it has those programs also offer locks on your information so when someone does inquire on your information, they will contact you to verify it is you who is requesting the information. Our nation’s military is very intent on training its personnel on “PII” yearly training is conducted on the classroom and on-line training and instructs its personnel on what to do to protect their information and how to report if their information is compromised, the reason why the military does this is due to the fact that all the information that is exchanged within branches and most of it is done by rosters that have a person’s name, date of birth, and last four of their SS# so you can see why they would try their best to protect their information. Protecting your personal information does not stop only at just your SS#, DOB, and name, it also can be used for acquiring your medical records, that’s why in 1998-2003 the Security rule was established to protect individuals and their medical information from being compromised in it the standard rule reads as follows “establishes national standards to protect individuals’ electronic personal health information that is created, received, used, or maintained by a covered entity. The Security Rule requires appropriate administrative, physical and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and security of electronic protected health information” most hospitals require you to sign a letter of consent releasing your medical records to an outside source, other forms state for how long those records can be viewed for and who can view them. Regardless of what safeguards are placed on our information somehow someway our information can be put in jeopardy by someone else, that’s where ethics comes into the picture. In the military or civilian world their will be training on ethics, colleges offer classes on ethics in the military they do annual training to keep their personnel up to date and keep their integrity intact. The reason for this is that (PII) and (Ethics) go hand in hand, there have been numerous occasions where individuals have been put in charge of others information and that individual has sold the information to others, but in doing so it is a Federal offense for Unauthorized use of privacy act records, and identity theft which carries a fine of 5 years maximum in prison and $250,000 each charge.

Resources: http://www.justice.gov/opcl/privstat.htm http://www.oge.gov/About/Management-Reports-and-Policies/Policies-and-Procedures/Policies---Procedures/ http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/ https://www.marinenet.usmc.mil/marinenet/