Health Information Compliance Alert

Security News:

Identity Theft Task Force Implements Protections

Published on Sat Mar 10, 2007

Learn what the government is doing to keep your private information safe.

A special task force is working diligently to curb the rise of identity fraud and theft.

The Identity Theft Task Force, formed last May at the request of President Bush, is co-chaired by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras and has several aims, including:

Making individuals and organizations better able to identify and prosecute identity thieves;
Minimizing the risk of identity theft for individuals and organizations by teaching them how to protect themselves;
Minimizing the consequences of identity theft for victims by helping them recover from incidents; and
Better safeguarding personal information held by the government.

As part of its final report preparations in September 2006, the task force made recommendations for three measures to be implemented immediately:

that federal agencies receive specific, step-by-step instructions that they can use in the event of a data breach.
the creation of a uniform police report for identity theft cases.
reducing the number of documents circulating with Social Security Numbers on them.

Resources: To learn more about how to protect yourself from identity theft or wish to report an incident, call 1-877-ID-THEFT or go online at http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft. The Office for Victims of Crime has a website devoted to the needs of identity theft victims: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/focuson2005/identitytheft/welcome.html.