Five Privacy Questions to Ask Any Business

These days, everyone from bankers to dentists keep records of your personal data. How do you know if a business is keeping your personal information safe? It is increasingly common for fraud to result from the loss or theft of consumer data from businesses. Credit.com provides you with five important questions to ask any business before you reveal sensitive personal information such as your Social Security number.

1. Why do you need my information? In some cases, businesses may not really need to keep your Social Security number or other information in their system. You may be able to substitute your Social Security number for a custom ID number instead. You can also decline to provide personal data in some situations:for example, when you are asked for your phone number at a store’s register.

2. How will my information be used? Ask businesses how your personal data is going to be used. When a company asks for your Social Security number, are they going to use it to identify your records or to access your credit report? Ask the business if they are going provide your information to third party vendors. By law, banks must give you an opportunity to opt-out from sharing non-public personal data with other companies.

3. How do you keep my information safe? Ask about a company’s security policies. Does the company lock their file cabinets? Is computer data encrypted and protected by a firewall? If your data is transmitted online, is it done using a secure system? Who has access to your personal data? Companies should have detailed plans and security measures in place to keep your information safe.

4. Have you ever had a security breach? Under California law, businesses must announce when they have experienced a theft or loss of personal data. Ask companies if they have ever had records stolen, if anyone has hacked into their computer system, or if they have ever lost sensitive data. Search online to see if there have been any security problems in the company’s past.

5. How do you dispose of old records? Old personal records should be shredded before being thrown away. If personal files are thrown out without being shredded, an identity thief could steal them from the trash. If your records are stored, is it with a secure document facility? Many businesses use a pick-up shredding service to dispose of old documents. Ask how long your records will be kept before they are deleted or destroyed.

It may seem odd to ask these questions of businesses that store your personal information. However, companies know that privacy concerns are important to their customers. Data theft is common at universities, medical offices, financial institutions, and other businesses that keep records about you. A trustworthy company should be able to quickly and honestly answer all five of your privacy questions.