Making Business Decisions I

Yesterday you had an interesting conversation with one of your loyal customers, Dan Martello. Dan asked you the following question “If I find a digital camera on the street is it OK to look at the contents – or am I invading the owner’s privacy?” You have a lengthy debate and decided that in some scenarios it is an invasion of privacy to be looking at someone else’s photos and is similar to looking in their windows. In other scenarios, it is not an invasion of privacy if you do not know the person and it is the primary way to identify the owner to return the camera, similar to looking in a wallet.

As you are cleaning the store this morning you find a 3 gigabyte thumb drive. You know how valuable a thumb drive can be and that it probably contains one of your customer’s data. What do you do? What security concerns are associated with the thumb drive? How could information security policies or information security plans help the cafe in this type of situation?

PROJECT FOCUS:

What if you lost your thumb drive that contained all of your personal information such as address, social security number, and credit card numbers? The FBI states that identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes. If you are a victim of identity theft, your financial reputation can be ruined, making it impossible for you to cash a check or receive a bank loan. Learning how to avoid identity theft can be a valuable activity. Research the following Web sites and draft a document stating the best ways to prevent identity theft.

• The Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information on ID theft at www.consumer.gov/idtheft
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at www.occ.treas.gov
• The Office of the Inspector General at oig.hhs.gov
• U.S. Department of Justice at www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/idtheft.html