PENNSYLVANIA PERSONNEL SECURITY Personnel security - PittsburghLIVE.com
Personnel security


Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Vast strides in computer technology have opened doors previously closed to businesses big and small. But one door that's supposed to remain carefully secured isn't always and that has turned millions of lives upside down.

We're referring to identity theft. And it's not just a concern for financial institutions. Every company with a database of employee names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers must be ever vigilant against theft, hackers and outright carelessness.

All it takes is one missing computer with personnel information. That's what happened recently at Boeing Co., where an employee reportedly took a computer off-site. The computer was stolen along with information it stored on 161,000 current and former Boeing employees. Investigations are ongoing.

There were at least 92 similar episodes in 2005 involving the personal information of millions of employees from a variety of workplaces, from banks to universities, according to the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. More than a third involved stolen computers, disks or tapes.


While federal law requires financial institutions to take precautions against identity theft, most other companies must police themselves.

If a company's personnel files have gone electronic, as most have, it's in that company's best interest to see that those files remain carefully secured. Computer-assisted suicide is a lousy option.