Advanced Progressive Solutions....providing solutions for Facta Law concerns
The new Facta law provision has established a higher level of responsibility associated with identity theft for businesses. This increased liability can cause financial ruin for those companies that do not have a proactive measure in place.
FACTA stands for Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act. The new provision of this law went into effect June. 1, 2005. FACTA is generally known as the law which allows all Americans access to their credit report once per year. So what does the facta law have to do with you?
Your business is now liable for identity theft under FACTA ( Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act )and the liability could destroy your bottom line.
'With unlimited statutory damages [under FACTA] this is a lawyer's dream,' says Thomas Hefferon, Partner at Goodwin Proctor LLP.
"It's too easy to get to data no matter what the key is, from insiders or hackers or mistakes," said Jody Westby, head of the security and privacy practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. "What we have to do is make it harder to use the data."
"We will act against businesses that fail to protect their customer data." - Betsy Broder, assistant director FTC Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.
Whether you have 1 employee or 1 million, the liabilities associated with privacy laws apply to your business.
A prime example of what "can" happen is illustrated by the recent V.A. loss of records and the subsequent political and financial fallout. Some top executives have lost their jobs and those individuals whose records "may" have been compromised are calling for financial damages.
Could this happen to your business? Yes, but you can protect yourself and your employees at the same time.
The government says you have to have four things:
You need to have a privacy policy, someone to oversee your privacy policy; you need to train your employees in the true problems of identity theft; and you have to have a mitigation plan.
Advanced Progressive Solutions through our preferred provider offers business owners an Affirmative Defense Response System - AT NO Charge to the business. We give you the letter setting up the meetings you need to have. They have done extensive work on putting together a policy for every business and we offer businesses all the third-party documentation to show that they're making an effort to be in compliance....And at no cost to the company, we train your employees on what identity theft really is. ADRS is offered to the businesses at no and effectively addresses each of the four things the government requires.
You can protect yourself and your company against Facta Liability by insulating your employees and clients against potential damages associated with identity theft. If you are a decision maker, you should be proactive by utilizing our ADRS program. Contact us and we will walk you through the process. With Identity theft and the FACTA Law it just makes good business sense. This is a reasonable proactive Facta Law strategy and protection for your company's bottom line.
How Can ADRS Help Protect Your Business?
6 ways ADRS Can Help You Protect Your Business
1. Develop a Privacy Policy...The ADRS program provides a written privacy policy outlining specific requirements for protecting customers and employees personal information.
2. Comprehensive Training Program...As outlined by the FTC, one of the first reasonable steps to protecting information is to conduct mandatory meetings to educate employees about the risks and liabilities of data loss or theft.
3.May Reduce Company Losses....ADRS training helps employees understand the critical nature of protecting personal data.
4. Potential Early Warning System..If a number of employees who have purchased the Identity Theft Shield are notified of the improper usage of their identities, the notification may act as an early warning system that the company may have an internal security breach.
5. Provides an Affirmative Defense..Offering identity theft protection as employee benefits is one solution that provides an affirmative defense against potential fine, fees and lawsuits.
6. Mitigating Damages..ADRS helps companies protect themselves by training employees in proper privacy-policy procedures. When employees complete the ADRS training session, they sigh the Use of Confidential information by Employee for that serves as proof that the have completed a mandatory training.
How to get started:
1. Call and speak to a representative for more information on how we may serve your Facta Law compliance needs.
Call Now 484-550-2494 - Facta Law has implications for your business.
Call Today!
WE Can Show You How To Make Your Data Harder to use.
Under Facta Law this just makes good business sense.
There is an Identity Theft and FACTA LAW proactive solution.
Under the current FACTA law provisions, your company needs a backup liability containment resource because document destruction is not enough. We can help you partner with the service that meets your business FACTA liability needs and credit monitoring and restoration service for your employees. We can offer this proactive Identity theft protection and Facta Law liability containment program as a "voluntary benefit" to your employees and or clients. Click here for more information: "Over the last nine years, criminals have gotten a better understanding of the power of information," says Rob Douglas of Privacy Today, a security consulting firm. "Instead of selling drugs, so much can be made so quickly with identity theft, and the likelihood of getting caught is almost nil." Avivah Litan, of the research firm Gartner Group, speculates that fewer than 1 in 700 identity crimes leads to a conviction. This goes a long way toward explaining why it's the fastest-growing crime of this century. Crooks rack up $53 billion a year in ID theft in the United States alone. Consumers get stuck with $5 billion directly; and the rest is paid by retailers and businesses-which pass it on in higher prices. According to many recent statistics, your employees and clients will actually "choose" to pay for these benefits themselves. Under the new FACTA Law provisions, protecting your greatest asset, your employees, helps to protect your company. For an Identity Theft and FACTA Law strategy call 484-550-2494.
Call Today
"An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure". Ben Franklin
This web site contains a wealth of resources for businesses and individuals looking for information on the FACTA Law. Many FACTA Law liability examples are illustrated as well as links to other FACTA LAW information resources.
If you own or manage a business in the U.S., under the FACTA LAW, simply shredding your documents ,although a necessary measure, is not enough. There are many compliance issues associated with the FACTA Law, and under the new June 01, 2005 FACTA Law liability provision, identity theft presents the greatest immediate threat to your bottom line.
"It's too easy to get to data no matter what the key is, from insiders or hackers or mistakes," said Jody Westby, head of the security and privacy practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. "What we have to do is make it harder to use the data."
The Facta Law gives that employee the right to sue "you".
That's a scary thought! What if an employee claims that their information was stolen through the actions of your company, but there’s no real proof to back it up? You will end up hiring (or using) an attorney to represent and defend you and your company in court. At $200 - $400/hour for most attorneys across the United States, how long can you afford to defend your company? This is the impact of the Facta Law. Facta is here to stay and the financial implications of the facta law will soon be a reality for all companies that maintain data.
** Special Note
We have spent many hours designing and researching this information to help you protect your business finances and employees from Identity theft and your FACTA Law liability. There are many resources made available to you via our effort. All that we ask is that when you decide that Identity Theft and Facta Law Liability is important to you, that you will call Advanced Progressive Solutions and allow us an opportunity to earn your business. The identity theft and FACTA Law liability threat is real, please remember that we helped to make you aware.
You need to have an identity theft protection and continuous monitoring plan in place for your employees, and if possible, for your clients also. This proactive containment measure under FACTA Law liability can save your company from the fiscal consequences of "unlimited" statutory damages while at the same time improving employee morale and enhancing loyalty to your company.
How easy is it to participate? Call : 484-550-2494.
Easy access to protection for your company and your employees. No administrative head aches, just good sense protection with easy delivery and a proactive Facta Law solution for your company. I think that you will agree that under the current FACTA LAW provisions, this makes good business sense.
Consult with an A.P.S. representative who will work with your current broker to help determine which facta law proactive measure may be a match for your company. We have representatives in every state in the U.S. and Canada that can provide the personal service that you require.
Picture this potential commercial. An attorney on a television saying to the public; "Has your identity been compromised"? Under the FACTA LAW you may have options. It "may" have been the consequence of your employer's actions or inaction. Under the new FACTA LAW provisions you may be able to collect from your employer. Call today and we will show you how to apply the recent FACTA LAW provisions to protect your interest and recover money lost.
Because under the Facta Law it is too late for a proactive solution once the theft occurs, and, even though it can cost you nothing to implement, it can protect your employees and your business at the same time under the new Facta Law provisions.
Call 484-550-2494 Facta Law : Identity Theft and FACTA liability for your business. WHAT DOES THE JUNE 1, 2005 FACTA LAW PROVISION MEAN TO YOUR BUSINESS? It means you now have direct financial liability for identity theft under FACTA if it happens to your employees or clients as a result of your action or inaction. This is not an empty threat (see FTC action below).It is estimated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that an identity is stolen every 3.2 seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week...literally non-stop.
According to John Gardner, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurial Soul, “The damages are devastating to any business.” and the FACTA law assigns responsibility directly to you, the business.
Under Facta doing nothing today can cost you much tomorrow. Since you can't be absolutely sure that your data won't be compromised, why not protect it "even if" it is stolen? The new Facta Law provisions make this idea a common sense solution.
Click Here: We can show you how to provide a proactive Facta Law solution for your business.
A happyemployee is a productive and loyal employee. An employee who is a victim of identity theft, with no protection .....is not a happy employee.
Wouldn't it be nice to hear your employees say: Yes it happened, but fortunately our employers had somthing in place that contained our damages and will handle the restoration for us?
Sure it would. It would also boost confidence in your company. It is much easier than you may think to posture your company to protect itself against this identity theft epidemic and the Facta Law liability assigned by the new Facta Law provisions.
We can work with your broker to help provide a proactive FACTA LAW solution that will meet your company's needs. Our clients decide whether these solutions can be voluntary or employer sponsered; either way we work closely with your company to make sure every employee appreciates the benefits of protecting themselves against identity theft.
For your proactive Facta law solution call 484-550-2494 and ask for Mr. Harvard .
Employers are being subjected to millions in fines and damages as a result of employee and client information being compromised. One of the more popular security measures, since the new Facta Law provision involves document destruction procedures. These procedures are necessary under the Facta Law but unfortunately they are not the complete solution. There are too many other ways that information can be accessed.
All data is vulnerable.
New FACTA Law Provision: Facta Law provisions as of June 01, 2005
On June 1, 2005, a new provision of FACTA went into effect. This new provision of the Facta Law says that any employer (even if you only employ one person) whose action or inaction results in the loss of employee or customer information, can be fined by federal and state government, and sued in civil court.
'With unlimited statutory damages [under FACTA] this is a litigator's dream,' says Thomas Hefferon, Partner at Goodwin Proctor LLP.
A "litigator's dream" is a strong statement, and your company's very real potential nightmare. If you are a desicion maker for your company such as an Owner, CEO, CFO, Broker, Benefits Manager, HR manager, a Risk manager, or just an interested employee, this should concern you.
Even if you did nothing wrong with respect to safeguarding the information, the FACTA Law allows you to be named as a defendant. How much will it cost you to defend yourself defending each employee or client case seperately? It simply makes good business sense with FACTA to be proactive with your strategy for protecting your company.
Denise Heilig of Arlington, Tenn., says her identity was stolen at a previous workplace. The perpetrators set up credit card accounts in her name, and it took numerous police reports and months of work to sort out the mess.
"It was a horrible time for us," says Heilig, 37. "Companies should be held accountable for this. They want to protect their assets, but they won't protect us."
(USA Today)
Concerned yet?
You should be. All data really is vulnerable.
What you don't do under F.A.C.T.A. can hurt you.
Keeping the numbers and other personal data out of the wrong hands likely will remain tricky.
"CIOs and other executives understandably complain that legislators rarely consider the costs of complying with information regulations. Worse, the anecdotal evidence suggests that many information-related laws punish the innocent while doing little to solve problems.
The way out of this spiral is to take preemptive action now to minimize future disasters. But time is running out. The alternative to litigating responsibility one incident at a time is a market-based solution—possibly offered by the credit agencies and data aggregators themselves—that offers low-cost insurance and other forms of protection against identity theft". (Ziff Davis /CIO Insight.. Author:Larry Downes)
Larry Downes is Adjunct Professor at the University of California–Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems. He is the author of Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance (HBSP, 1998).
Under FACTA your employee's and customer's protection , is your protection.
Consider this:. Banks understand that no matter what they do with regard to security, criminals will still attempt to steal their money. So, what did banks do? They employed "DYE PACKS". If a criminal successfully steals their money, the dye pack explodes coating the bills with a red dye rendering the money "harder to use". Think of our program as a FACTA LAW Identity Theft "DYE PACK". If identity thieves were able to access your data (employee files, tenant and client files etc.)that you are liable for under the FACTA Law provision, our program would make it harder for the identity thieves to use. In addition, when our program is in place, it will serve as an early alarm to you that the data was compromised. Companies and individuals generally find out only after the damage is done. In a FACTA LAW environment with the high level of financial liability assigned to businesses, discovering the compromise after the damage has been done, is too late. Furthermore, if your company advertised participation with our service, the identity thieves would see you as a difficult target. Don't you want that? Your clients and employees certainly do. "An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure". Ben Franklin
This is a win, win situation under the FACTA Law.
Your company would have an early notification resource and is protected from unlimited damages and the loss of employee productivity in the event that information is compromised. Your employees avoid the time consuming anguish associated with identity theft and will appreciate the forsight of their employer.
All companies in the United States are affected by this legislative act.
On June 16th the FTC issued the first ruling against a company under FACTA. The Federal Trade Commission charged that BJ's Wholesale Club did not provide "reasonable security" for sensitive customer information. Allegedly they failed to encrypt credit card numbers that were stored in computers at their stores and the customer information was stored past the date it was required. The files with the customer's numbers and information were protected only by default passwords and were compromised. This resulted in the theft of credit card numbers that were used to run up $13 million in charges. BJ's has already put aside millions in reserve to handle claims.
The FTC is wasting no time in making the point that they plan to enforce this bill. "This case demonstrates our intention to challenge companies that fail to protect adequately consumers sensitive information", said Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman of the FTC.
So, what if you do shred all potential employee information, and take all necessary precautions to protect your past, current, and future employees’ identities, and the information still gets out somehow? Under the FACTA law, you could still be held responsible. Why? Because the "reasonable security" requirement under the FACTA law is not clearly defined and during litigation you can be assured the plaintiff's attorney will argue that you could have done more.
Is information theft a real problem?The numbers speak for themselves.
You may not think information theft could happen to you, but neither did a lot of companies, universities, government institutions, and businesses that have had employee or customer information stolen from them that have been in the news lately: The Facta Law could negatively impact these companies if the compromised information is used for illegal purposes. With the FACTA Law in place it just makes good business sense to have a proactive Facta Law strategy. The Facta Law does not have to hurt your business. The Facta Law simply requires a Facta Law proactive strategy.
Data Debacles: Top 10 Customer Data Loss Incidents
Source: InformationWeek, public disclosures by companies
See below for expanded list of companies who have had information compromised.
Costs to Businesses and Consumers
Last year's identity theft losses to businesses and financial institutions totaled $47.6 billion and consumer victims reported $5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses. Under the Facta Law, businesses could be responsible for even greater amounts. A proactive Facta Law strategy avoids the financial pitfalls of identity theft.
In those cases, the loss to businesses and financial institutions was $10,200 per victim totaling $32.9 billion. Individual victims lost an average of $1,180 for a total of $3.8 billion.
Keeping the numbers and other personal data out of the wrong hands likely will remain tricky. Continue reading aboutFACTA LAW
"It's too easy to get to data no matter what the key is, from insiders or hackers or mistakes," said Jody Westby, head of the security and privacy practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. "What we have to do is make it harder to use the data.
EXPANDED LIST OF COMPANIES THAT HAVE HAD INFORMATION COMPROMISED WITHIN THE LAST FEW YEARS:
DATE MADE PUBLIC
NAME
TYPE OF BREACH
NUMBER
Feb. 15, 2005
ChoicePoint
ID thieves accessed
145,000
Feb. 25 , 2005
Bank of America
Lost backup tape
1,200,000
Feb. 25, 2005
PayMaxx
Exposed online
25,000
March 8, 2005
DSW/Retail Ventures
Hacking
100,000
March 10, 2005
LexisNexis
Passwords compromised
32,000
March 11, 2005
Univ. of CA, Berkeley
Stolen laptop
98,400
March 11, 2005
Boston College
Hacking
120,000
March 12, 2005
NV Dept. of Motor Vehicle
Stolen computer
8,900
March 20, 2005
Northwestern Univ.
Hacking
21,000
March 20, 2005
Univ. of NV., Las Vegas
Hacking
5,000
March 22, 2005
Calif. State Univ., Chico
Hacking
59,000
March 23, 2005
Univ. of CA, San Francisco
Hacking
7,000
March 28, 2005
Univ. of Chicago Hospital
Dishonest insider
unknown
April ?, 2005
Georgia DMV
Dishonest insider
"hundreds of thousands"
April 5, 2005
MCI
Stolen laptop
16,500
April 8, 2005
Eastern National
Hacker
15,000
April 8, 2005
San Jose Med. Group
Stolen computer
185,000
April 11, 2005
Tufts University
Hacking
106,000
April 12, 2005
LexisNexis
Passwords compromised
Additional 280,000
April 14, 2005
Polo Ralph Lauren/HSBC
Hacking
180,000
April 14, 2005
Calif. Fastrack
Dishonest Insider
4,500
April 15, 2005
CA Dept. of Health Services
Stolen laptop
21,600
April 18, 2005
DSW/ Retail Ventures
Hacking
Additional 1,300,000
April 20, 2005
Ameritrade
Lost backup tape
200,000
April 21, 2005
Carnegie Mellon Univ.
Hacking
19,000
April 26, 2005
Mich. State Univ's Wharton Center
Hacking
40,000
April 26, 2005
Christus St. Joseph's Hospital
Stolen computer
19,000
April 28, 2005
Georgia Southern Univ.
Hacking
"tens of thousands"
April 28, 2005
Wachovia, Bank of America, PNC Financial Services Group and Commerce Bancorp
Dishonest insiders
676,000
April 29, 2005
Oklahoma State Univ.
Missing laptop
37,000
May 2, 2005
Time Warner
Lost backup tapes
600,000
May 4, 2005
CO. Health Dept.
Stolen laptop
1,600 (families)
May 5, 2005
Purdue Univ.
Hacking
11,360
May 7, 2005
Dept. of Justice
Stolen laptop
80,000
May 11, 2005
Stanford Univ.
Hacking
9,900
May 12, 2005
Hinsdale Central High School
Hacking
2,400
May 16, 2005
Westborough Bank
Dishonest insider
750
May 18, 2005
Jackson Comm. College, Michigan
Hacking
8,000
May 18, 2005
Univ. of Iowa
Hacking
30,000
May 19, 2005
Valdosta State Univ., GA
Hacking
40,000
May 20, 2005
Purdue Univ.
Hacking
11,000
May 26, 2005
Duke Univ.
Hacking
5,500
May 27, 2005
Cleveland State Univ.
Stolen laptop
44,420
May 28, 2005
Merlin Data Services
Bogus acct. set up
9,000
May 30, 2005
Motorola
Computers stolen
unknown
June 6, 2005
CitiFinancial
Lost backup tapes
3,900,000
June 10, 2005
Fed. Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)
Not disclosed
6,000
June 16, 2005
CardSystems
Hacking
40,000,000
June 17, 2005
Kent State Univ.
Stolen laptop
1,400
June 18, 2005
Univ. of Hawaii
Dishonest Insider
150,000
June 22, 2005
Eastman Kodak
Stolen laptop
5,800
June 22, 2005
East Carolina Univ.
Hacking
250
June 25, 2005
Univ. of CT (UCONN)
Hacking
72,000
June 28, 2005
Lucas Cty. Children Services (OH)
Exposed by email
900
June 29, 2005
Bank of America
Stolen laptop
18,000
June 30, 2005
Ohio State Univ. Med. Ctr.
Stolen laptop
15,000
July 1, 2005
Univ. of CA, San Diego
Hacking
3,300
July 6, 2005
City National Bank
Lost backup tapes
unknown
July 7, 2005
Mich. State Univ.
Hacking
27,000
July 19, 2005
Univ. of Southern Calif. (USC)
Hacking
270,000 possibly accessed; "dozens"exposed
July 21, 2005
Univ. of Colorado-Boulder
Hacking
42,000
July 30, 2005
San Diego Co. Employees Retirement Assoc.
Hacking
33,000
July 30, 2005
Calif. State Univ., Dominguez Hills
Hacking
9,613
July 31, 2005
Cal Poly-Pomona
Hacking
31,077
Aug. 2, 2005
Univ. of Colorado
Hacking
36,000
Aug. 9, 2005
Sonoma State Univ.
Hacking
61,709
Aug. 10, 2005
Univ. of North Texas
Hacking
39,000
Aug. 19, 2005
Univ. of Colorado
Hacking
49,000
Aug. 22, 2005
Air Force
Hacking
33,300
TOTAL
50,579,179
We can help. Contact Advanced Progressive about FACTA LAW liability solutions.
For your proactive Facta law solution click here to schedule an Identity Theft Solutions Facta Law presentation for your location.
Most business owners would say that they never heard of FACTA, or that you may have just heard of FACTA and you heard that you can get a free credit report? So you have heard of FACTA. But how does the facta law affect your business?
FACTA stands for Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act. The new provision of this law went into effect Jan. 1, 2005. FACTA is generally known as the law which allows all Americans access to their credit report once per year. So what does the facta law have to do with you?
A new Fact Sheet has also been developed focused strictly on FACTA. Fact Sheet 6(a), FACTA, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act: Consumers Win Some, Lose Some, is available at www.privacyrights.org. Business Week says that the average damages for Identity Theft victims are $92,000.00 and up, per person. Using this statistic, if you have 10 employees lose their identities, then on average, your Facta Law liability could be $920,000.00 not including the federal and state fines.
FACTA Law requires action or the damages could be financially devastating for a company.
Effective June 1, 2005 under FACTA, the companies listed below could potentially be liable for hundreds of millions in damages for a crime that has too many opportunities to occur.
Opportunities exist from such varied sources as high tech hackers, dumpster divers, disgruntled employees, and mistakes.
The FACTA Law is here to stay, act now your stockholders will thank you.
For your proactive Facta law solution click here to schedule an Identity Theft Solutions Facta Law presentation for your location.
According to John Gardner, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurial Soul, “The damages are devastating to any business.” and the FACTA law assigns responsibility directly to you, the business. .How can you, as an employer, minimize your liability under the Facta Law?
