In the last 10 years significant information security legislation has been
passed affecting every
American. Here are a few that you may recall:
• Homeland Security Act of 2002
• USA Patriot Act of 2001
• Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002
• Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002
• Bank Secrecy Act
• Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act
• Electronic Funds Transfer Act
• Expedited Funds Availability Act
• Federal Reserve Act
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Home Owner’s Loan Act
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX)
• Bank Service Company Act
• Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers
• Bank Protections Act
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
With the customers we serve at Kaye-Smith, HIPAA, GLBA, and SOX, along with
their related security and privacy safeguards, are laws we have to deal with on
a daily basis for purposes of security.
We have also had to make some adjustments and be aware of the changes brought
about by the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act. Since these legislative
acts play such an important role in how our clients are doing business, it is
important that we understand what they are and what they mean.
HIPAA – The HIPAA Security Standards Rule, which went into effect in April 2005,
requires health-care covered entities to maintain administrative, technical,
and physical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of electronic health information. It requires protection against
any reasonably anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of
such information; and to protect against any unauthorized uses or disclosures
of such information.
GLBA – Gramm-Leach-Bliley requires financial institutions to have an information
security plan that contains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards
to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal consumer
information. Covered entities are required to implement information security
programs to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information,
protect against anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of
such information, and protect against unauthorized access to or use of such
information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any
customer.
SOX – Sarbanes-Oxley authorizes the Security Exchange Commission to prescribe
regulations requiring entities that produce annual financial reports to contain
a report on the firm’s internal financial controls. Section 404 of this Act specifies what those
controls must be.
Check 21 – as Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act is often called, is designed to
foster innovation in the payments system and to enhance its efficiency by
reducing some of the legal impediments to check truncation. The law facilitates
check truncation by creating a new negotiable instrument called a substitute
check, which permits banks to truncate original checks, to process check
information electronically, and to deliver substitute checks to banks that want
to continue receiving paper checks. A substitute check is the legal equivalent
of the original check and includes all the information contained on the
original check. The law does not require banks to accept checks in electronic
form nor does it require banks to use the new authority granted by the Act to
create substitute checks. For purposes of character recognition and legal
recognition (CAR/LAR) this Act does affect how checks are designed for those
participating entities.