A new law in California following a controversial
data breach will require firms that are transporting sensitive information to increase the security surrounding it.
The data breach in question revealed payroll data including Social Security numbers for more than 700,000 people working for the state's Department of Social Services, which was stored on microfiche and lost in the mail, according to a report from the
Los Angeles Times. Now, the state will require that data be sent by courier, rather than through the mail, and officials are looking into ways data can be encrypted before transport.
"We are dismayed by the revelation that confidential IHSS payroll information is being stored on non-encrypted microfiche tape," said from Doug Moore, head of the UDW Homecare Providers Union, according to the paper. "It is shocking that a large state like California would use such antiquated procedures to maintain confidential personal information - especially in this time of increasing
identity theft."
Ondrej Krehel, chief information security officer for Identity Theft 911, has a blog about the ways
data breaches can affect consumers.
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