Identity Theft: Ripe for the Picking!
The scariest scenario that we are presented with today is the amount of private information . . . .
The scariest scenario that we are presented with today is the amount of private information that we are required to maintain on our employees. When you gather all of the information that government bureaucracies (especially the Feds) require, and then add insurance companies and the court systems to the mix, there isn’t much left that is truly private about the employee or his/hers spouse and children.
All this data is maintained in the Payroll/Human Resources database. This can be risky! How secure is this information? How well do you trust your Payroll and H/R staff? I’m sure that you verified the security of the software application and have split the areas of responsibility between different individuals, so that one person doesn’t do everything. Right? You’ve also verified that the Payroll and Human Resource departments are locked every time the staff is not there. Right? Can an outsider get to this information? Here are a couple of additional items you might have over-looked:
• Do you allow them to maintain any of this information on a Laptop?
• Do they have a CD burner on their workstation?
• What about USB Memory Sticks and are the USB ports active?
• Can they Email a file to an outside source?
• Do you allow them to “work from home?”
• What access does the janitorial staff have to these areas?
All of the above are potential security risks. Remember, most company theft comes from within! Identity theft is a very real problem today, and millions of dollars are being spent trying to prevent it. But, sometimes we tend overlook the obvious.