Each of us must protect University information
Over the past few years, many commercial organizations and academic institutions have had sensitive information captured by individuals who can use this information for financial gain through identity theft, sale of institutional information and research, and many other malicious acts. With the growing identity theft risk, governmental agencies at both the federal and local levels have enacted numerous pieces of privacy legislation describing the level of protection that is required of all organizations that process information that could be used for identity theft purposes.
In recent studies, as much as eighty percent of these data breaches have not been the result of the failure of technology systems, but of human error. Often, such errors are the result of individuals who handle information not fully understanding the sensitivity of the information to which they have access, the legal requirements or the threats to that information.
This section is intended for all individuals who have access to University information to describe how we determine the sensitivity of information, and how that determination should affect our handling of the information we use.
