Looking for an example that shows more security awareness training is needed, regardless of job role?
Well, here it is.
Police investigators in Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, were doing their jobs like they should: compiling the evidence, building cases against accused criminals, and including lots of details.
Unfortunately, those details included things like Social Security numbers (and more) of both victims and suspects in publicly available documents.
The Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk issued a statement saying this should not have happened and officers need to think about which details go into public records:
"The Metropolitan Police Department issued a reminder to its officers that social security numbers, bank account numbers, and other sensitive personal information that could place someone at enhanced risk of identity theft should not be placed in an arrest warrant affidavit."
Sadly, some of those who had their personal information revealed were part of cases in which they had already been victims of identity theft.
Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry announced his office will notify all victims impacted by the breach of PII (personally identifiable information) within 45 days and extend a year's worth of free credit monitoring to all of them.
This story reminds of us one of our favorite SecureWorld PLUS security awareness training courses: "Consequences or Counseling for Employees who Fail at Security?"
