KEESLER AFB, BILOXI, Miss. -- Staff Sgt. Jones is tasked with updating his unit's recall roster. In order to take care of some family issues, he decides to email everything he needs to his personal email to work on it at home. Jones isn't real, but if he were, his seemingly harmless action would land him in a lot more trouble these days.
As of Oct. 24, members who violate Air Force policy on the storage and transmission of Personally Identifiable Information will have their Air Force Network, also known as AFNET, accounts locked.
Before user accounts can be unlocked, the first O-6 in their chain of command will have to sign off on the action. "The airman responsible will have to, at a minimum, complete the Information Assurance course all over again," said Col. Frank Amodeo, commander of the 403d Wing.
Amodeo said the mistakes he's seen commandwide have been the result of people trying to get work done and were not with malicious intent. "As citizen airmen, we often take work home with us", Amodeo said. "We have to find a better way to be efficient as we will never stop taking work home."
Rules governing PII violations and breach reporting are already covered in Air Force Instruction 33-332. PII can be a grouping of a member's name and other identifying information including, but not limited to, phone number, driver's license number, or full date of birth, according to the AFI. The AFI also states, "A PII breach is defined as 'a loss of control, compromise, unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized acquisition, unauthorized access, or any similar term referring to situations where persons other than authorized users and for an other than authorized purpose have access or potential access to PII, whether physical or electronic.'" This new policy will be an add-on to those regulations.
Amodeo said he wants to make sure that our airmen have the tools to succeed, but still protect PII. "The rule is, you cannot send any Personally Identifiable Information through an email unless it's encrypted", said Amodeo. That's whether it's mil to mil or mil to civilian, he said.
Lt. Col. Jonathon Wright, commander of the 403d Communications Flight, said we all have requirements to collaborate with others, but the information we share is not always secure. The Electronic Records Management drive, or O: drive, is the most secure location to share files with others to collaborate, he said.
Wright said identity theft is on the rise and we have to continue to stay one step ahead of the thieves in order to keep our information secure. "What is our best defense?" he said "User Training."