DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Would you leave your front door to your home wide open?
Every day across the Air Force, people are freely giving information to the world by leaving the front door to their identity open.
Personally identifiable information is something most of us deal with on a daily basis. Maybe it's your own information or maybe it's someone else's. To combat PII breaches and the repercussions of too much information getting out, Airmen and their families should take precautions to protect this valuable asset.
According to Air Force Instruction 33-332 Air Force Privacy Act and Civil Liberties Program, PII is information, which if lost, compromised, or disclosed without authorization, could result in substantial harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to an individual.
This information links, relates or is unique to or describes a person. It includes, but isn't limited to one's full name, Social Security Number, biometrics, full birth date, driver's license number, passport number and educational, financial, legal or medical records.
Of course this information seems like something you wouldn't give out, but PII also includes personal addresses and phone numbers. When they are linked with a full name, some damage may be done.
"Protecting PII is critical in today's world because of the devastation it can do to a person's life," said William Seighman, 7th Component Maintenance Squadron unit program coordinator.
Protecting PII goes beyond Airmen improperly transmitting their information.
"Educating people about PII is important, not only for the military members, but for their dependents," Seighman said.
On a larger scale, violating and sharing PII can affect the Air Force as a whole.
"When PII is transmitted incorrectly, it can impact Air Force missions around the world," Seighman said "By releasing out information, people can find out who is deployed and who their families are. This can be devastating to the individual and may tamper with the ability to perform their duties."
To shield against PII breaches, the Air Force has various measures in place to prevent them, such as a procedure that is required while sending an e-mail that includes PII.
"The most common violations are through e-mail," Seighman said. "People don't follow the guidelines of encrypting e-mails that contain PII. As a result of people not complying, Airmen are getting locked out of their accounts. Depending on the severity of their offense, they may face administrative punishment."
The Air Force learns from past mistakes and continually implements new measures to prevent and protect from PII breaches. However, just as the methods and practices to protect it are ever evolving, so are those of the people who wish to do harm by obtaining PII.
"We are on the right track of protecting information better, but with security hackers out there, it is getting tougher and tougher, so we need to do what we can on our part to ensure everyone's information is safe," Seighman said.