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Month: April 2016

Defining a Business Record and Developing a Records Management Framework

Since we are starting a new year, I thought it might be nice to start with some information helpful to creating a records management system. Since information is the most import asset an organization has, the beginning seemed like a great place to start.

The International Standard on Records Management defines records as such:
ISO 15489: “information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business”.

This definition makes it clear that we are not just talking about our old archival records but about everyday information that we create in our work situations. This information may take several forms and include audio files, photographs, video, emails, and any form of social media.

ARMA International has created a framework referred to as “The Principles” which are generally accepted recordkeeping principles. These guidelines were examined by legal and IT professionals who reviewed and distilled global best practice resources. These included the international records management standard ISO15489-1 from the American National Standards Institute and court case law. The principles were vetted through a public call-for-comment process involving the professional records information management (RIM) community.

This framework supports organizations immediate and future regulatory, legal, risk mitigation, environmental and operational requirements.

The Principles have eight points for creating information governance best practices:
Principle of Accountability – An organization shall assign a senior executive who will oversee a recordkeeping program and delegate program responsibility to appropriate individuals, adopt policies and procedures to guide personnel and ensure program audit ability.
Principle of Transparency – The processes and activities of an organization’s recordkeeping program shall be documented in an understandable manner and be available to all personnel and appropriate interested parties.
Principle of Integrity – A recordkeeping program shall be constructed so the records and information generated or managed by or for the organization have a reasonable and suitable guarantee of authenticity and reliability.
Principle of Protection – A recordkeeping program shall be constructed to ensure a reasonable level of protection to records and information that are private, confidential, privileged, secret, or essential to business continuity.
Principle of Compliance – The recordkeeping program shall be constructed to comply with applicable laws and other binding authorities, as well as the organization’s policies.
Principle of Availability – An organization shall maintain records in a manner that ensures timely, efficient, and accurate retrieval of needed information.
Principle of Retention – An organization shall maintain its records and information for an appropriate time, taking into account legal, regulatory, fiscal, operational and historical requirements.
Principle of Disposition – An organization shall provide secure and appropriate disposition for records that are no longer required to be maintained by laws and organizational policies.

10 Million Fell Victim To ID Theft in 2002

Comprehensive government study of identity theft turns up . . .

WASHINGTON DC – Even federal regulators were surprised by what the most comprehensive government study of identity theft turned up: nearly 10 million victims and a loss of $53 billion for businesses and consumers last year alone. And those numbers probably are low because many identity thefts go unreported, Federal Trade Commission officials said Wednesday.

It is a crime of the times. It is a growing crime, said Howard Beales, the FTC’s consumer protection director. “Unfortunately, a fair number of thieves have found it’s a fairly easy way to make money.” The FTC did a random telephone survey of 4,057 adults to try to gauge the extent of identity theft crimes in the last five years. It found 27.3 million people were victimized when someone made unauthorized charges on their credit cards, took money from their bank accounts, or obtained a credit card or official document in their name.

In 2002 alone, the cost was $48 billion for businesses and $5 billion for consumers. Beales said the number of victims was higher than he expected. In 2002, for example, the FTC received 161,819 complaints about identity theft. The commission has set up a Web site with tips on how to avoid identity theft, www.consumer.gov/idtheft and urges consumers to carefully review their credit card statements each month, destroy charge slips rather than simply throw them in the trash, and check their accounts annually with the three credit reporting bureaus. |

The agency also urged financial institutions to pay more attention to whom they are extending credit. Wayne Abernathy, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for financial institutions, said the FTC’s report underscores the need for Congress to act. The Bush administration favors legislation that would create a national fraud alert system and improve the accuracy of credit reports. “The problem is so great and its impact on consumers so terrible that we should not delay giving consumers and law enforcers these important new tools to fight identity theft,” he said.

But Rob Schneider of Consumers Union said the administration backed bill- the Fair Credit Reporting Act – would undermine efforts to curtail identity theft. One provision would invalidate state laws such as on recently signed by California Gov. Gray Davis that lets consumers bar companies from sharing information with an affiliated firm in a different business.

The FTC survey found more than half the victims discovered the problem by checking their accounts, and another quarter was alerted by their banks to suspicious activity on their cards. Of the 9.9 million victims last year, 5.2 million discovered unauthorized charges on existing credit card accounts, and 1.5 million found new accounts were opened by others in their names.

By Jonathan D. Salant,  Associated Press

Law Firm Dumps Confidential Files

1000’s of abandoned confidential client files found in public garbage bin . . .

FORT MYERS, FL – A defunct law firm abandoned tens of thousands of confidential files containing personal information on their clients for years until a landlord threw them in a public garbage bin, a local television station is reporting.

Attorneys for the former firm of Annis, Mitchell, Cockey, Edwards and Roehn, abandoned the files after their firm closed. Ten thousand files of closed cases – ranging from divorces to sexual harassment – ended up in the hands of a reporter for WBBH, the television station reported. The files have since been turned over to a local attorney who was formerly employed by Annis Mitchell. The majority of the files remain in the landlord’s possession.

The firm had offices in Tampa, Fort Myers, Naples and Tallahassee before it was dissolved in 2001. A company that was formed as a remnant of the firm has since declared bankruptcy and an order in the bankruptcy case made each Annis Mitchell attorney responsible for their client’s files. “With identity theft the way it is, everything concerns me,” said former client Howard Wheeler, who hired the firm for a number of cases and whose files ended up in the garbage bin.

“It’s totally irresponsible,” said Herb Donica, the firm’s own bankruptcy attorney. “I can’t imagine why those files aren’t protected.”
The TV station reported in broadcasts Friday that the landlord of the former law offices repeatedly contacted the firm’s partners over the past two years asking them to pick up their files. The attorneys only took active files with them, George Vukobratovich told the station. Vukobratovich threw the files out when he finally had to make room for new tenants. The TV station said it was given files marked “confidential” The station said it told former Annis Mitchell attorneys it had the files more than a month ago, but still none of the attorneys tried to get them.

Elizabeth Tarbert, an ethics lawyer for the Florida Bar Association, said attorneys have to protect client files, even if the case is no longer active. The Florida Bar advises attorneys seeking to dispose of closed files to first contact their clients and ask them what they want done with the documents. If the files are to be disposed of, it needs to be done in a way which protects confidential information, such as shredding.

Associated Press

1.9 million Job Losses in 2008

Businesses become victims of financial and non-financial identity theft . . .

In hard economic times, the likelihood of businesses becoming victims of financial and non-financial types of identity theft rises.  One of the most well-known business and corporate identity theft schemes is standard electronic data breaks, or hacking, to retrieve a customer’s personal identification and information.  But new trends include the theft and exposure of sensitive information by an employee of the company, and the abuse of a business’s line of credit by employees in order to purchase merchandise that is then resold.

To avoid such theft and fraud, businesses should identify privacy officers or assemble a team to enforce the rules regarding sensitive customer and employee information.  Businesses should also ensure all electronically stored information is safe.  Educate employees on identity theft and fraud, and the risks they can expose the company to just by visiting web sites, replying to e-mails from unknown senders, and shopping online at work!

It’s On eBay

An easy way for identity thieves to make a living . . .

Kessler International, a New York computer forensics firm conducted a six month study on the availability of information left on computers being resold. The company bought a total of 100 disk drives of various sizes from eBay and what they found was alarming – over 40 of the hard drives had retrievable information on them!
The breakdown of information is as follows:
Personal and Confidential documents, including financial information 36%
Emails 21%
Photos 13%
Corporate Documents 11%
Web Browsing History 11%
DNS Server Information 4%
Miscellaneous Data 4%

Many companies have recycled their old computers and hardware, without thinking about the repercussions of identity theft. They have no system in place that documents the destruction of the information. During tough economic times this becomes an even greater risk both to the company and the contacts of the user of each individual computer. Buying a used computer has now becomes one of the easy ways for identity thieves to make a living.

Computer Related Identity Theft on the Rise

Total estimated risk of ID theft in US at approximately $1.5 billion . . .

Panda Security, a world leader in IT security, announced the findings from a comprehensive identity theft study conducted by PandaLabs, the company’s malware analysis and detection laboratory.

PandaLabs found that over three million of the audited users in the U.S. and more than 10 million users worldwide were infected with active identity theft-based malware last year.

According to one recent study published by an independent research firm, the mean cost per ID Theft incident in the U.S. is $496.00, putting the total estimated risk of ID theft from malware in this country alone at approximately $1.5 billion.

Florida Takes the Bronze Medal in Identity Theft

FL 3rd in the US in per capita rate of identity theft complaints . . .

Florida ranks third in the U.S. among the states in per capita rate of identity theft complaints and ninth in total overall complaints.  This comes as no surprise as Florida has a high population of senior citizens who are often targets of fraud.

However, it was notable that e-mail is now by far the preferred method of initial contact for those who are attempting to defraud someone.  The fraud complaints revealed that the victims were initially contacted by email 52% of the time and by phone only 7% of the time.

Identity Theft Protection While Job Hunting

Twelve Truths that may help you protect yourself or someone you know . . .

Layoffs and cutbacks are directly affecting many of us today.  Most of us know someone, if not ourselves, who are looking for employment.  Help protect yourself or a friend from identity theft when applying for a new position!  Below is a list of Twelve Truths that may help you protect yourself or someone you know from Identity Theft while shopping for a job:

Truth #1: If you’re going to post a resume online, post your resume “privately.”
Truth #2: Not everyone who has access to a resume database should.
Truth #3: Not every job offer you see is for a real job — some jobs are just scams.
Truth #4: The more general the email “job” offer, the less valid it usually is.
Truth #5: Even the most careful, conscientious sites cannot control your resume after someone
has downloaded it.
Truth #6: Unless you are applying to the Federal or State government, never put a Social Security
Number on your resume.
Truth #7: Using a disposable e-mail address and a PO Box can save you from many headaches.
Truth #8: Things to omit from your resumes if you post it online –
Your references, for sure. Your school name, possibly.
Truth #9: Some resume databases are better than others.
Truth #10: Delete does not always mean delete.
Truth #11: Keeping good records is crucial for online job searching – don’t forget any of the websites
where you post your resume.
Truth #12: Prevention is better than the cure!

Florida Identity Theft Ring Busted

An identity theft ring used counterfeit checks to steal at least . . .

An identity theft ring that included bank employees, bank supervisors and a postal worker used counterfeit checks to steal at least $100,000 across South Florida in recent months.  Of 46 people suspected of being in the ring, 24 so far have been arrested.

The suspects stole people’s personal information, such as payroll and rebate checks, during home and car burglaries. That information was used to create fake checks that were cashed at Wal-Mart, Publix supermarkets, check-cashing stores, banks and other locations in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.