As data breaches and cybercrime become increasingly common, organizations are in need of a way to send and store documents in a secure method now more than ever. Malicious attacks on sensitive information aren't the only threat to data, however. Often times, important information is saved on physical devices that are lost, stolen or handled inappropriately, resulting in compromised data.
This was the case when Missouri's Park Hill School District recently announced it suffered a data breach that resulted in personal information of current and former Park Hill students and employees being leaked on the Internet.
Park Hill Superintendent Scott Springston told ABC affiliate KMBC that the information was released without permission by a former employee who downloaded the confidential files onto a hard drive. When the hard drive was brought to the employee's home and connected to a computer, the files were uploaded to the Internet. The compromised information included Social Security numbers and personnel files of more than 10,000 people.
The district was notified of the breach when a parent saw one of the documents online during a Google search in early April. Park Hill representatives believe the files were available online between January and April 2014, but they aren't sure how many people may have seen them. School district officials were assisted by the FBI and Google in getting the information removed from the Web.
"We try to be so safe, so secure, and maintain our basic privacy and it seems that no matter where we go, there's another risk, another breach," said Park Hill parent Kim Verhoeven in an interview with KMBC.
Secure sensitive documents with FoIP
Organizations looking for a reliable way to keep sensitive information private and secure should implement a fax-over-IP solution. When documents are sent with a FoIP service, they are stored in a dedicated database during transmission. Once the message is received, the information within is archived and can be searched at any time. FoIP service providers like FaxCore employ sophisticated back-end encryption techniques to ensure documents are only viewed by those with the proper authority. Records sent and stored with a FoIP solution will never be on a hard drive or USB device that can be lost or stolen, as they are kept safely in the cloud.
Enhance enterprise communication, collaboration and compliance efforts with a proven FoIP solution from FaxCore. Contact FaxCore today to learn more about their 'Partly-Cloudy' fax solutions.
