Kroll Fraud Solutions Blog – A Dialogue on Data Security

Simply put, data minimization is the practice of eliminating unnecessary information stored by an organization or individual for the purpose of decreasing risk of information breach and, possibly, identity theft. Why is this important? Because thieves can’t steal what you don’t have – if you eliminate data, you eliminate risk. Naturally, you can’t eliminate what’s necessary for business functions or what’s required by law for record keeping purposes, but most companies have a long way to go before they hit the “minimum required” threshold. If you’re planning on revising your data minimization policies this year, here are a few tips to consider:

We’re guessing your business is located in an area that’s had a bit of bad weather this winter – because from rushing floods to blowing snow,  there are few regions in North America that haven’t experienced some severe weather events this season. Use this ‘new beginnings’ time of year to ensure that your employees can stay productive even when they can’t make it to the office. Telecommuting can be a wonderful boost to productivity on both a personal employee and organizational level, but it does bring unique security concerns. Here are a few items to keep in mind:

This week, we’ll be offering up a few tips intended to help you keep your data secure while managing those beginning-of-year housekeeping issues that most organizations face.

It’s unavoidable that sensitive data is set in motion with much greater frequency at this time of year than others – and much of it is actually your employees’ data. Most likely, your organization implemented an open benefits enrollment at the end of last year, and new benefits are coming online for the first time. This can be a particularly treacherous time period as well. Consider these tips:

It’s a new year, so many organizations are evaluating their options for better managing risks and facing what could be a whole new crop of data security threats – or, quite possibly, variations on the old. Kroll recently released its data security forecast for 2011, which gives an overview of what we’ll be watching in the year ahead. We’d love to hear from you – what do you think 2011 will hold? What data security and risk management tools and techniques will your organization focus on? In short, what’s your New Year’s resolution in terms of data security?

Both the House and Senate have passed the “Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010” (S. 3987), which would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s “Red Flags Rule” to clarify which organizations or “creditors” are required to institute an identity theft prevention program. The bill awaits the President’s signature, and will most likely put an end to the speculation as to which types of service providers will be expected to comply with the Red Flags Rule.