Asset Protection

An increase in training can also help prevent issues that arise from a lack of computer literacy which do not involve outside actors trying to obtain private information. For instance, most government work centers aim to tightly control the availability of personally identifiable information (PII). PII includes things like social security numbers, banking information, full names, etc. anything that could be tied directly back to identify a singular individual. Well a few months ago in my work center an individual needed to widely distribute a document which contained PII, so the PII had to be redacted. Instead of using the more secure Adobe PDF redaction function he opted to print the document out, cover the PII with black marker, then scan the newly redacted document and send it back out. Because this man did not understand technology, he did not realize that scanners use bright lights to scan documents, or that this process would make the PII visible again. This led to the inadvertent distribution of hundreds of full names and social security numbers to my entire work center. This slip-up put hundreds of people at risk of identity theft, and although identity theft may not directly harm the organization it is emblematic of the massive issues that can be cause d by a lack of computer literacy.