Workshop . . . May 25, 2007

Be Your Company’s Data Security Hero!

Workshop:
Developments in Employee Data Privacy

Speakers:
»Raeann Hofkin, payroll and accounts payable manager, Telerx
»William Dunn, manager of government relations, American Payroll Association

Payroll professionals are the key guardians of businesses’ most critical data and should redouble their efforts to make that data as secure as possible, speakers said May 25 at the American Payroll Association’s 25th Annual Congress.

“Proclaim yourself privacy manager,” said Raeann Hofkin, payroll and accounts payable manager, Telerx, a Horsham, Pa.-based customer service company. “You know where the holes are; start plugging those holes.”

“It’s time to wake up,” said William Dunn, manager of government relations, American Payroll Association. Despite the proliferation of federal and state laws dealing with protecting vital employee and customer information, these laws are often too broad, too vague and fail to cover internal employer problems. For this reason, “it’s better to have employers address problems rather than trying to meet the letter of the law,” according to Dunn.

With organized crime making efforts to infiltrate companies to steal large databases, “you need to take steps to guard that information,” Dunn said.

Hofkin urged workshop participants to go back to their companies and develop a plan to track the movement of confidential data through the company, get upper management’s buy-in on plugging holes, and immediately take simple steps to secure confidential information.

Some of those simple steps include: keep files, printers, copiers, and fax machines in locked offices; shred paperwork daily; conduct surprise audits to see if confidential information is secure; take identifying information, especially Social Security numbers, off all documents and use employee ID numbers instead; use encryption software; and do not store any critical data on laptop hard drives.

“Technology has put an end to privacy,” Hofkin said. “Your life is an open book to anyone who wants to read it.”

Guarding vital data is “of utmost importance,” Hofkin said. “You can be the hero.”

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