Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sets 120-day deadline for Federal Agencies to Develop Security Breach Notification Policy

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has given federal agencies a 120-day deadline for developing a security breach notification policy.   This mandate (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2007/m07-16.pdf) also requires federal agencies to rethink their use of personally identifiable information (PII), such as social security numbers.  Federal agencies are instructed to rethink their requirements for PII including the unnecessary use of information including social security numbers.

With recent security breaches highlighting the need for better protection of PII, the White House OMB is taking information security and privacy for electronic data seriously.