Ahem...Privacy Please

Have you made a resolution?  Perhaps you want to quit smoking?  Maybe you want to lose some weight?  Maybe you want to run a marathon?  Maybe you want to climb Mt. Everest?  Maybe you want to challenge yourself to do something outside of your comfort zone - for some people that may be something like skydiving or for others, like me, it may be something as simple as brushing your teeth every day.  Whatever your personal and professional goals in the upcoming year, I wish you nothing but success. 

Perhaps we should also have a few goals as an organization.  One of those, I would suggest, should be an increased awareness of the importance of "privacy" in our daily work.  As members of the repossession and remarketing industries, we may have access to highly sensitive data about people.  For various clients we may be given information such as names, addresses, places of employment, social security numbers, and account information among others.  Simply the fact that an individual is having their car repossessed is something that could be considered sensitive data.  We must always work to ensure that we taking appropriate measures to safeguard this data.  Steps as simple locking computers/tablets, creating strong passwords, using shredders, refraining from clicking on internet links from unknowns sources, etc, can have a big impact on keeping data secure.  

That being said, everyone makes mistakes.   We actually have a process in place to handle suspected data breaches….do you?