My Information Is Not Just Another Policy Initiative

To all of the IT Professionals out there who live and breath technology and the implementation of policies, do you ever stop to think about not just what you are doing but why? This past winter I was the victim of a "security mishap". In the rush to immunize our community against yet another flu pandemic, my local government did not follow security procedures and managed to lose the health records of over 40 thousand community members. Recently, a polite letter of apology was sent to me and my family explaining that our personal data was on a memory stick which a government employee dropped by accident in a parking lot - never to be found again. The fact that this happened aside, this data was not encrypted! As a community member who entrusts my personal information to others, I need to be able to trust the policies and procedures are in place to protect me from fraud and identity theft. As architects of policy and security solutions, you are vital to my personal security - security is not just another policy initiative to me, but a feeling and a right.