Records security is your job
Here’s a chilling story from MSNBC:
Two laptop computers with detailed personal information about commercial drivers who transport hazardous materials across the United States are missing and considered stolen. The laptops belong to a contractor working for the Transportation Security Administration and contain the names, addresses, birthdays, commercial driver’s license numbers and, in some cases, Social Security numbers of 3,930 people, according to an Oct. 12 letter from TSA to lawmakers.
It seems like we see a story like this every few weeks. Sensitive personal information, including payroll records, social security numbers and the results of criminal background checks and credit checks are put on a laptop. Then, the laptop is lost or stolen and the people whose information was on it find out that they’re at risk.
You’ve got sensitive information about the people who work for you. You’ve got their personnel records. You’ve got the results of background and credit checks for employees and people you’ve considered hiring. You also have records on your customers and prospects. You’re responsible for keeping those records secure.
Use the available technological tools. Use passwords to keep records out of reach of the casual browser. Use encryption to make them even more secure.
Treat your entire computer like a sensitive record. Keep it safe. Chain it down. If it’s hooked up to another computer or to a network or the internet, make sure you’ve got cybersecurity systems in place and working.
If you must put sensitive records on a laptop make sure you keep the laptop […]
New Jersey wants to license individual mortgage solicitors
The U.S. mortgage crisis is touching just about every area of society, both here and overseas. You can bet that legislators at all levels are lining up to hold hearings and propose legislation. After all, that will often get them TV coverage which seems to be the object of so many political activities.
In New Jersey the mortgage crisis has spawned a call for background checks, this time on mortgage brokers. The Press of Atlantic City reports that there are bills working their way through the New Jersey Assembly and Senate that would raise the requirements bar for people who want to become mortgage brokers.
Currently in New Jersey you don’t need a license to solicit mortgage business as long as you’re working for a licensed mortgage company. The proposed legislation would change that by requiring the mortgage solicitors obtain individual licenses.
The licensing process would require taking an examination, undergoing a criminal background check, and completing instruction in “the legal, ethical and business aspects of the field.” I’m not impressed.
Legislators would do us all much more good if they would delve into the entire process of securitizing mortgage loans. Securitization removes any incentive for the loan originator to be concerned about whether a loan will be paid back or not.
Legislators would also serve us better if they looked into the deceptive practices of the industry. I’m talking about offers that entice unsophisticated people who want to own a home to take out loans they won’t be able to afford.
But since the […]
Felons on the KU payroll
I love how official spokespersons try to slide around issues. Consider the case of Kansas University and background checks.
The Lawrence Journal-World and News reported on October 14, 2007 that there were felons employed at the university. They also reported that “the University does not conduct criminal background checks on most employees.”
The University sprang into public relations action. Universities have been very sensitive about security issues since the Virginia Tech shootings.
A University spokesperson, Jill Jess, noted that “the university does review the sex offender registry and asks for voluntary disclosure of previous convictions before offering employment.” Personally, that statement would make me very nervous because everything rests on the expectation that a person with a criminal record will be honest about disclosing it, knowing that the University wouldn’t be checking.
Jess told the paper that “An employee who has a conviction but does not disclose it on the application would be subject to immediate termination.” The question is, how would you find out that they’d lied without doing a background check?
In most cases, that would only happen if they committed another crime and were caught at it. Let’s say a young man was convicted of attacking someone else and that he lied about having a conviction when he applied for employment. At the University that’s all he’d have to do. There’s no rule about letting the University know of a conviction after he’d been employed.
Then, one day, the young man gets angry and attacks someone. That would trigger an investigation and […]
You have no privacy
Back in 2001, Scott McNealy, the CEO of Sun Microsystems, roused the media with a zinger delivered at a new product introduction. “You have zero privacy anyway,” McNealy told a group of reporters and analysts, “Get over it.”
That may not have been exactly true then, but now an Iowa University professor, Mark Andrejevic, says that “the data trail left by technology users allows public and private monitoring agencies to track users’ locations, preferences and life events for purposes including consumer marketing, targeting groups of voters for campaigns, background checks and government surveillance.”
Andrejevic’s recently released book is titled iSpy: Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era. He’s concerned about two things.
His big worry is that technology is advancing much faster than privacy laws. There’s probably not much any of us can do about that. The history of technology is that it runs far out in front of the laws and regulations that ultimately develop to deal with it.
His other worry is that the technologies allow people to become “do-it-yourself private investigators.” He’s right and wrong about that.
On one hand, people everywhere are using new technologies to check each other out. Dating couples Google each other to see what can be found. Job applicants research companies and companies head to MySpace and Facebook to check out applicants.
Where Andrejevic is wrong is the idea that there are no rules and no controls. If you use background checks as part of your hiring or tenant selection process you know he’s wrong. There […]
Government increases background checks at ports
Delaware Online reports on a major security effort involving port workers with the headline: “Port is first in U.S. to get new ID cards.” Here’s the lead.
After months of delays and nearly $100 million spent, a nationwide effort to issue standardized, high-security ID cards to more than a million longshoreman, dock workers, truckers and port workers kicks off at the Port of Wilmington today.
The story goes on to describe how port workers in Wilmington DE will be the first to undergo background checks and receive special “smart IDs” to make the ports and the US a safer place. The program was designed right after the September 11, 2001 attacks, but is only now being implemented.
Five thousand port workers in Wilmington are the first of approximately a million port workers around the country who will have their backgrounds checked out as the program rolls out to other ports over the next few months. Workers won’t be able to get one of the new ID cards if they are illegal immigrants, have links to terrorism or terrorist organizations, if they’ve committed a felony or if they’ve made bomb threats.
In addition to the obvious security outcomes, this is good for port-related businesses in other ways. The background checks are sure to weed out some people with criminal pasts who might turn to theft or violence.
Background check backlash
More and more businesses, government agencies and not-for-profits are using background checks every day. Most people are fine with that, but some people don’t want to be the ones that get checked.
Some NASA workers even tried to get a judge to issue an order saying that the government couldn’t ask them certain questions on a required background check. They objected to the provisions of regulation HSPD-12 which calls for smart ID cards to be issued to government employees and contractors.
The regulation calls for a federal background check and the background check includes a question about whether the employee has taken drugs. Several employees didn’t like that.
The judge who ruled on the case said, in effect, “too bad.” The employees have until October 27 to undergo the check and get the smart ID card or they face termination.
On a less serious note, we have the dog walkers of Austin. This is a group of people who have volunteered to work at the Austin animal shelter and help out by walking dogs.
The City of Austin requires people who aspire to this lofty position to undergo a simple background check. The dog walkers don’t seem to object to being checked out. What they don’t like is giving their Social Security numbers to the city because they’re not sure the city will keep them secure.
You can pretty much bet that as the trend of increasing background checks continues we’ll see more and more incidents like these.