Data privacy becomes an HR issue.

• Position: PRIVACY - Brief article

Until lately, data privacy has been regarded as primarily an IT issue. Some--particularly in the legal community--contend it is also becoming a human resources issue as hackers are starting to take aim at employee personal information as well as customer information. Take the monstrous Target breach as an example. The hackers attacked both customer and employee personal data.

In the Connecticut Employment Law Blog, publisher Daniel Schwartz, a partner at Shipman and Goodwin LLP, also noted an article in The New York Times that reported hackers recently tried to access government employee files that included in-depth personal information required for security clearances. Four months later, the administration says there is no indication that the breach was successful.

The motivations for the attacks...