Prevent Data Breaches Now

Have you ever wondered what happens to your personal information (PI) after you give it to a company? I’m very cautious about handing out my PI because of the threat of identity theft, so I decided to start asking questions of those businesses that require this information.

CASE NO. 1: RENTING MY IDENTITY? 

Recently, I needed to rent a piece of equipment, so I went to a rental store. The store required that I submit a copy of my driver’s license and my credit card. I asked the manager where he would secure my information. He opened an unlocked file cabinet and showed me a file in which he kept the customer data. This cabinet, which was behind the sales counter, was accessible to anyone who worked there, including the nightly cleaning crew. I couldn’t know if my PI was safeguarded or if the file cabinet was locked every night. Also, the same PI had been scanned into a computer, so it was now located in two places within the business. The manager couldn’t answer how long my PI would be kept by the company or how (or if) it would be destroyed when it was no longer needed.

I asked the manager if I could get the copy of my license back when I returned the equipment, but he said he had to keep it on file. 

CASE NO. 2: COUCHED IN DUBIOUS TERMS