Every
day, the information that USDA agencies manage affects the
financial markets and lives of individuals. Therefore, USDA
must exercise due diligence in its protection. As dissemination
of information becomes easier, the Department must walk a
fine line between information exchange and information protection.
This is especially important in an age of
instant access and global exchange. As networks expand and
connect, security concerns will expand exponentially. USDA
is committed to stay abreast of security concerns, and proactively
address them.
USDA Fifth Annual Cyber Security Awareness
Expo
The United States Department of Agriculture, Office of the
Chief Information Officer presented the Fifth Annual USDA
Cyber Security Expo on July 17 and 18. The Cyber Security
Expo was a two-day interactive and educational forum. This
year the theme was "Federal Cloud Computing: Securing
the USDA Enterprise." The Expo provided attendees an
opportunity to learn about cloud computing emerging trends,
risk management framework in the cloud, various cloud offerings,
companies and agencies that have placed systems in the cloud,
etc. This awareness event was for all USDA employees, contractors,
partners and volunteers to learn about new technologies and
how they work in supporting the USDA mission.
Expo highlights included:
- FISMA and FedRAMP requirements
- Operations
- Policy
- Implementation
- Best Practices
- Lessons Learned
Personally Identifiable Information
USDA holds a vast amount of data on its
employees and customers. Some of this data is readily available
to the public and in fact is mandated to be made available
through various legislative and legal vehicles. However, some
data is sensitive and should never be made public, such as
Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
PII refers to information that can be used
to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity. PII
can include information or combinations of information such
as social security numbers (in complete or truncated form),
place of birth, date of birth, mother’s maiden name,
biometric record, fingerprint, iris scan, DNA, medical history,
medical conditions, financial information, credit card numbers,
bank account numbers, etc. USDA is committed to protecting
PII for both employees and customers. USDA has a toll-free
PII Incident Hotline at 1-877-PII-2YOU. The
hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There
is also an Incident Hotline at 1-888-926-2373.
http://www.ocio.usda.gov/security/index.html
Last Modified:
07/19/2012
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