A recent data theft of approximately 2,500 officers from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is being investigated after their personal information was compromised last week. This includes the names, birth dates, email addresses, partial employee serial numbers, and account passwords of these officers; along with thousands of more police officer applicant’s information that were reportedly compromised by the breach.
In today’s climate, online safety of our personal information is a serious concern. It is hard to conceptualize the impact that the data breach will have on these officers and their families over time. And hopefully, the breach doesn’t extend beyond what has been reported by the media.
The LAPD says it is “taking steps to ensure the department’s data is protected from any further intrusions,” and that “the employees and individuals who may have been affected by this incident have been notified.”
Thinking about how it would feel to be an officer and receive a notification that your personal information has been stolen (from your employers’ database) is an unsettling thought. We entrust that when we provide certain required information to our work place that it will be kept safe from discovery by outside individuals. Knowing that it could possibly be compromised would provide such an uneasy feeling and would definitely have us pausing before providing such personal and confidential information.
Recommendations:
• Monitor your financial accounts
• Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• Look into credit monitoring services
Identity theft is on the rise. And since we don’t yet have any further information on how this happened, we recommend taking the steps above to help ensure the extend of the breach doesn’t get worse.