The importance of personally identifiable information
Personally Identifiable Information, or (PII), is in the spotlight at the IRS, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Labor (DOL), plus other federal agencies. Moving beyond the buzz and into understanding what it means for you relates directly to protecting your personal information from would-be thieves.
The Concept
PII is information that identifies you or relates specifically to you. This includes the obvious: name, address, phone number, and Social Security number. It also includes information that identifies your financial data, such as credit card information, emails, account numbers, user IDs, and passwords.
The point is that federal agencies are now focusing on identifying who legitimately has your PII and requiring that they have an active plan to protect it from hackers and thieves. In fact, anyone who has PII or other financial information must now have a Written Information Security Plan to outline how they plan to protect this information.
What you need to know
Your tax information is key PII. As you can imagine, your tax information is loaded with data that’s a target for thieves. So be aware of how you store this information. Also let vendors know you don’t want your Social Security number exposed on any mailed forms like W-2s and 1099s.
Know who has your PII. Be aware who has your personal data and be deliberate about deciding who really needs it. Close unused accounts and ask them to delete their records as soon as possible. Remember, this is not just your bank or tax professional. It includes any vender that stores your credit card number for future transactions or anyone you autopay with a link to your bank account.
Be watchful. As part of the federal requirements, any suspected security breach incident is to be reported to you on a timely basis. But despite these requirements, this does not always happen. So be diligent, and take advantage of the free annual credit report from each of the major credit reporting agencies to double check for any suspicious activity.
Your information is secure. As your tax professional, we protect your personal information and take this task seriously. While no one can guarantee something bad won’t happen (just look at recent cases of data theft at United Health Care and AT&T), it is our obligation to identify personally identifiable information, have a plan to protect it, and be constantly vigilant.