Summit team looks to demystify PII

Stories of identity theft and data breaches are common these days. Unfortunately, that story became a reality at ITD in 2018 when a phishing email scam gained potential access to personally identifiable information (PII) of a small number of DMV customers.

That’s why the Demystifying PII Team developed a plan to implement an existing department-wide policy to protect personal information.

“Almost every employee at ITD is exposed to or handles PII,” team member Lisa McClellan told the Leadership Conference in October. “From Human Resources, to Financial Services, Highways to DMV, we collect, transmit and record PII every day.”

VIDEO: Watch the "Demystifying PII" team deliver its opening pitch.

PII includes social security and driver’s license numbers, photos, bank account and credit numbers, addresses and employee identification numbers.

“We need to first investigate department-wide how we handle PII,” Lisa said. “Are we still emailing PII? Are we leaving hard copies of PII on our desks or on the printer? Do we have hard copies of PII in file drawers?”

The next step she said is to strengthen the department’s processes to prevent potential exposure.

The team’s plan includes creating procedures to implement the department’s policy and regular reminders of the importance of PII and the obligation to protect it.

“We need to get to where all of ITD is managing PII properly and uniformly,” team leader Michelle Yankovich said. “We believe our plan will accomplish that.”

During the conference, Demystifying PII team members dressed as a thief and a con artist and offered participants “new fake identities” to illustrate the importance of the issue.

The team champion is Alberto Gonzalez and the team leader is Michelle Yankovich. Team members include: Andrew Wasdahl, Zac Edwards, Lisa McClellan, Nancy Luthy, Monte Schmidt, Jasmine Platt, Jezmynne Arroway, Kate Rice and Mike Rice.

Published 12-07-18