Companies of all sizes maintain personal information of customers and other individuals on their computers and in their networks. If any of those areas are breached by a thief looking for financial, personal or identification information, the results could be extremely costly in terms of money and a company's reputation. A data breach may occur when en employee loses a laptop, has a PDA stolen or when an outside source accesses a company's network through a computer on or off site. The kind of information that triggers the Florida data breach statute is as simple as a name along with a social security number, diver's license number or credit/debit card number and access code.

According to one study, in 2005 at least 53 million consumers were placed at risk of identity theft due to data breaches. If a company has experienced a data breach, Florida law requires that company to do certain things to investigate the breach and possibly notify anyone who will likely be adversely affected. Failure to comply with that law could result in costly fines and a severe blow to that company's reputation and ability to conduct business.

If a company has reason to believe or is notified that its data has been breached and personal information has been materially compromised, that company must determine if those individuals whose information was exposed have been, or are likely to be, harmed by the data breach. The law requires the company to conduct, or have other qualified personnel conduct, a thorough, well-documented investigation to determine what, if any, harmful effects results or are likely to result from the breach.

If the company fails to conduct that investigation, it must notify those individuals whose information was exposed no later than 45 days from the date the company became aware of the data breach. Additionally, if an investigation was conducted and it was determined that certain people were harmed, or likely to be, those individuals must be so notified. Failure to provide the required notice can result in severe financial penalties and horrible publicity.

According to one report, over two-thirds of businesses do not even know the data breach laws affect them despite the potential for severe penalties if the laws are not followed. If you suspect that your Florida company has been the victim of a data breach, please call us at 904-642-3332 or contact us online.  It is important to understand the law and issues involved so your company can go through the process to avoid or minimize the potentially significant and crippling ramifications of this increasingly common scenario.