Oregon requires firms to protect data.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis - Oregon Identity Theft Protection Act - Brief article

Identity theft is a major problem in the United States and certainly in Oregon, which is ranked the 13th-worst state per capita for the crime by the Federal Trade Commission.

The Oregon Identity Theft Protection Act, effective January 1, requires businesses, organizations, and government agencies to establish and implement a formal plan to protect the personal data they collect, maintain, and share. The state defines personal data as a person's name combined with either a Social Security number (SSN), driver's license, identification card or passport number, or other federal government-issued identification number or financial account number, credit or debit card number, along with any required PIN code or password that provide access to a financial account.

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Firms can have different plans for protecting such data, depending on their size and business, but the law requires them to take reasonable measures to ensure the confidentiality of their customer and employee data, according to a Salem, Oregon, Statesman Journal report. For most organizations, however, this means encrypting digital...