| TH E N I H C A T A L Y S T | JU L Y – A U G U S T 2008 |
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Protecting privacy is involved intricately in NIH achieving its mission, for if privacy is breached, the public may wish to discontinue their involvement in NIH clinical studies. The training course covers ways to protect your own privacy, as well as the privacy of your co-workers and the public.
Identity theft now surpasses drug trafficking as the number one crime in America, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The Bureau's 2005 report on identity theft found that approximately 1.6 million households experienced theft of an account other than a credit card (such as a banking account), and 1.1 million households discovered misuse of their personal information (such as social security number). The average amount lost in these households was $1,620. The Identity Theft Resource Center reports that it can take between 330 and 600 hours to recover from this crime, and many individuals spend up to one year struggling with their identity theft case.