Privacy Of Information As A Major Concern Of Public Agencies

In an increasingly public world, information that we hold private is finding its way online and in the hands of people who don’t have a right to see it. Strict measures are often put in place to keep personal information private but hackers and clerical errors can make us vulnerable. For example, vital personal information about federal employees has recently found its way onto the pages of numerous web sites and publications.

These lapses often come to the attention of the public but usually after it’s too late. The information has been out there, at the mercy of anyone who wants to see it. Mistakes like these can be more than embarrassing, it can be costly for people whose data has been stolen and used by identity thieves.

Hackers aren’t always to blame for data leaks, sometimes people can be careless. Their negligence or ignorance can allow information to get out.

One thing people should keep as private as possible is their social security number. Every citizen in the US is issued their own number. It should be well-guarded since it identifies you and can be misused if in the wrong hands.

Recently, details about a major lapse in security was released by the US Department of Justice. The agency accidentally published social security numbers on its web site. When the error was made known to the agency they removed the numbers but the damage was done. Their publication made them accessible to identity thieves. This incident shows that data leakage can happen anytime and not always by criminals.

But since people aren’t perfect we have to guard our information closely. Some one may release the information with no malice but it damages just the same.

One way to keep data safe is to make sure it is encrypted. Not all businesses use this system because it is cost prohibitive and the process is complex.

Whatever security measures you adopt to keep your personal information safe, you should do a test run to make sure you haven’t missed any loopholes. This will help keep out hacker and minimize human error. Train staff to handle data correctly so lapses don’t occur.

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