Canada, New York Release Privacy Guides for Businesses
Friday, November 14th, 2008The Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the New York Consumer Protection Board have both issued privacy guides for businesses.
The New York Consumer Protection Board’s “Business Privacy Guide” (pdf) explains “how to handle personal identifiable information and limit the prospects of identity theft.” The guide notes that, “After California, New York leads the nation in the number of data breach incidents each year. And, New York is 6th per-capita in identity theft complaints.” The guide also explains how identity theft affects businesses’ bottom lines.
In 2007, identity theft alone cost businesses over 40 billion. The average data breach today will cost your business $192 per-incident. According to a Ponemon Institute study, almost 33% of customers surveyed stated that they would cut ties with a company that had a data breach. It is not only good business sense for your organization to safeguard personal information, but it should be a core value to promote and retain business. A business plan might not stop data breach and identity theft, but good privacy practice will help to limit its adverse effects and to protect your business from potential liability.
The board also released the “Identity Theft Red Flag Rules Business Alert” (pdf), “a fact sheet for business covering promulgated rules to safeguard data and help banks and financial institutions protect customers against identity theft.” What are red flag rules? (more…)

