Obama, McCain, and Clinton’s Passport Breach - Why You Should Be Concerned

March 22, 2008

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By now you have probably heard about the breach of Barack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton’s passport files by State Department employees and contractors that resulted in each of them receiving a phone call from Condi Rice apologizing.

I don’t have too much to say about the specifics of the incident itself. If you’re one of those 3 particular people you probably have bigger things to worry about at the moment.

The Truth Is Out There (And Its Scary)

Just take a minute to think about how systemic and widespread issues like this are. I don’t have statistics, but I would bet that organizations that don’t have security breaches like the State Department are the exceptions rather than the rules.

Organizations spend a ton of time and resources protecting sensitive data from being accessed from outsiders, but more often than not it’s the people inside the 4 walls of the office that are the issue.

Think about your doctor’s office - who has access to your medical files? Probably the doctor and the assistant or receptionist. Now think about your medical insurance company - who do you think can get at your files?

How about your home. I bet that anyone in your tax assessor’s office has access to your property data whether they actually need it for their job or not. Same with your home insurer.

The list goes on and on.

What Can You Do About It?

To a certain extent there is not a lot you can do to prevent it other than ask the organizations that have your data “what are you doing to protect it?”.

Other than that, you want to take whatever steps you can to detect identity theft and protect yourself. You never know what underpaid and overworked crankpots are out there.

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