Your personal information is your responsibility...Right?

It's not a question of "if" but "when" the next data security breach happens.  Will it be your bank, your favorite store or an online purchase?

Here's the problem.  We tend to take the security of our personal information way too lightly.  At least that's what we're told when Target or Home Depot get hacked.  We're supposed to be diligent and wary of strangers.  Hide those pin numbers, don't use "monkey123" for your password and don't trust anybody.

That last one has some weight to it. 

But not for the reason you think.  The people you shouldn't be trusting are exactly the people responsible for breaking your trust.

It's the bank with the vulnerable database easily accessible from the Internet, the gas station that doesn't notice the card skimmers on their pumps, the home improvement store that doesn't bother to check the security of their Point of Sales systems.

It always seems there's some degree of "blame the victim."  Always that undertone that the "stupid consumer" is at least partially at fault.  So when bad things happen it's on you to fix their mess. 

Oh sure, they'll offer up "free credit monitoring" but that's about the extent of their "customer care."

Free credit monitoring is like being invited to a funeral.   

Something's dead, you can't do anything but watch and there's lots of crying.

The world we live in demands submission.  Want a job?  Be prepared to offer up more information than your mother knows about you.  Going to school? same story.

It's all in the name of "security."  We don't want to be working next to the next Osama Bin Laden now do we?

Fine, I feel very cozy in my little cubicle knowing that the guy next to me is unlikely to start living out his Soldier of Fortune fantasies in the break room anytime soon.

Except that it's all BS.  I repeat, it's all a huge, steaming pile of BS...

Personal information is a sacred trust. One that needs to be respected and not thrown around like a Facebook profile.  Yet your Facebook page is probably more secure than your credit report.  

Case in point and a personal pet peeve, Credit Reports used for anything but credit.

A credit report is reflective of your past ability to pay bills, that's it.  It is not reflective of your character, ethics or suitability for employment. 

But it seems you can't do anything without giving up the most personal of information to those who aren't the best custodians of it.

I'll cut to the chase, if I'm required to lay myself bare to get a job or buy a power drill then those entrusted with the information need to be responsible for it.  Offering up a year of credit monitoring is useless.  If my life is ruined because somebody didn't take that responsibility seriously then they need to do more than offer me a subscription to watch my own destruction. 

If my identity is stolen, my accounts spread all over the dark net and my job prospects ruined for a decade because somebody got lazy at your company then guess what...

I'm your ward.  You're now responsible for my well being.  You're going to make sure all my needs are taken care of.  I'll never have to worry about qualifying for a mortgage or paying the light bill because you're going to take care of it all.

All of it, no exceptions.  If I get married, you're going to pay for it.  If I want to take a Hawaiian vacation you'd better FedEx me the plane tickets.

That's the price of being careless.  If it's so critical to know everything about me just to sell me something, enroll in a college class or apply for a job then you should have as much risk as I do.

That's not ridiculous that's parity.  What's so ridiculous about demanding the same level of responsibility as is imposed on those providing the information?

"That's just the way the world is" is NOT a valid answer.  You can't be held to a standard that the standard bearers themselves don't adhere to.

One of two things needs to happen.  Either those that demand our personal information need to have as much at risk caring for it as we do or we just need to stop being required to provide it so freely. 

I'll say it again...I've NEVER seen ANYTHING on a credit report that had any bearing on somebody's ABILITY to do a job or reflected on their CHARACTER in any way. 

Yet it's a favorite rationalization for submitting to a financial colonscopy for everything and anything.  So long as it is, we need to demand equivalence or just refuse to participate. 

"Sorry" is not enough.

Maricopa Community Colleges: An "insecure" letter...

Got a letter the other day and it said this...

"On October 19th, 2013 we determined that your information including: your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, Social Security number, date of birth, certain demographical information and enrollment, academic and financial aid information may have been accessed without authorization.  The system did not contain credit card information or personal health information."

Oh, well that's a relief, at least they didn't get the credit cards...Oh wait, did I shop at Target last month?

The Maricopa Community College District (MCCD) is the largest community college district in the state of Arizona and one of the largest in the nation serving  over 200,000 students every year. 

I signed up for a class with them once.  I know I applied for employment on more than one occasion as well.   Why anyone needed an SSN or Date of Birth for either considering I was never employed or completed that class is a mystery.

There's other far less personal information that can identify a person and cause far less damage if compromised.  Ahh, but I forgot, in the post 911 era we're expected to lay ourselves bare trusting that the recipients of our most personal of information will be good stewards.  Of course, all in the name of security.

Which makes it ironic that "security" is the very thing that's failed us.

They didn't get the credit card information... Who cares!  Whomever benefitted from this "info-heist" now has enough information to create scores of false identities and cause irreparable harm to the victims of the breach.

People get a bit too cavalier about their personal information sometimes.  I live in Arizona and around the time I was getting my first driver's license, the state actually encouraged motorists to use their SSN as their driver's license number.  Of course that was back in the day when credit card numbers were stolen off discarded carbon paper not the Internet.

People are admonished to carefully control access to their private information but increasingly we're asked to give that responsibility over to private and public institutions that aren't worthy of that trust.

It needs to stop.  Along with credit checks on job applications and the requirement to give your SSN for anything but obtaining a loan or starting, not applying for,  a new job.  In those cases at least you know the chain of custody of your information.

It's your PERSONAL information and you shouldn't be ostracized for protecting it.  Especially when those demanding it obviously can't be trusted to keep it safe. 

Support measures like Senator Elizabeth Warren's "Equal Employment for All Act" that blocks the requirement for credit reports on job applications.  That measure would also prevent the haphazard collection of SSN's and other personal information as well.

They want your SSN.....again...

How they do try...

I received this email today that instantly went to my junk email folder but the scary thing is that for a split second I believed it was actually from the Social Security Administration.

It's definitely a fake especially the part about "Don't miss out on your Social Security Number benefits"

Yeah, wouldn't want to miss out on that...