I’ve heard far too many business leaders in lesser-regulated industries, of organizations of all sizes, say something to the effect of, “Oh, we don’t have any information that hackers would find of any value.”
To which I ask, “Well, don’t you have employee or customer information?”
And most answer, “Sure, but not as much as other businesses in the financial or healthcare industries. We just wouldn’t be a target! It’s not something we worry about.”
Well, don’t underestimate the reasons why individuals want to steal personally identifiable information (PII). There are literally an infinite number of motivators to steal PII.
As a case in point, consider the woman who stole PII so that she could get plastic surgery…
“Cops: Woman Sought for Stealing Breast Implants”
An excerpt from the story…
“According to Huntington Beach police, Pampellonne opened a line of credit in someone else’s name in September 2008. Huntington Beach police detective Larry Pitcher said Pampellonne lied to her doctor and the staff at the Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery about her name and other personal identification. She used the credit to have the procedures done and never showed up for any follow-up appointments, Pitcher said.”
Let this be just one of many possible lessons; any business, of any size, in any industry, in any location, is a possible target for PII theft and cybercrime if they possess any type of employee, customer or other consumer PII.
Most businesses have PII.
All businesses with PII need to make sure they provide due diligence to protect that PII.
Tags: awareness and training, identity theft, Information Security, IT compliance, IT training, policies and procedures, privacy awareness, privacy training, risk management, security awareness, security training