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