Communications of the ACM

In June 2005, a unit of lexis-nexis discovered the theft of 310,000 customer records containing sensitive information such as customer names, addresses, and social security numbers. This incident followed closely on ChoicePoint's disclosure of the theft of personally identifiable information (PII) of hundreds of thousands of customers and Bank of America's declaration that it lost backup tapes containing information on 1.2 million customers. Given the seriousness of the matter, firms are struggling with finding ways to best ensure the privacy of their customer's and employees' sensitive data.