As of October 1st of 2008, Nevada businesses must encrypt personal information of a customer for any electronic transmission. A simple, inexpensive solution to meeting this legal mandate is to sign up for Webloq‘s private email (Full Disclosure: I am the VP of Engineering for Webloq).
The law defines personal information as first name or first initial plus last name in combination with either a Social Security number, driver’s license, ID card, credit/debit card or account number, along with any security code or password that would permit access to a person’s financial accounts.
Similarly, in Massachusetts, state regulators issued rules that require entities that store personal information on residents to encrypt that data on laptops and other portable devices. The requirements took effect on Jan. 1, 2009.
As identity theft data breaches continue to make headlines, more and more states will attempt to solve this multi-billion dollar problem with legislation. After California adopted its data breach disclosure law in 2003, more than 40 states implemented their own variation of data breach disclosure laws. The same thing will occur with personal data encryption laws. Several states, including California are preparing to implement similar laws in the near future.
Larger companies are better poised to implement protective measures in order to comply with these laws. They already have security experts in house, and typically have a security infrastructure in place. Their biggest burden will be training, not implementation.
Smaller businesses on the other hand lack the expertise and the systems needed to comply with these laws. If you own a small business and want to protect your customer’s personal information when sending email, Webloq has the solution for you!
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