Common Sense Can Solve A Lot?

It is true Boeing Co. is the newest victim of a stolen laptop containing personal information on nearly 400,000 workers and retirees. The company reports this personal information includes employees’ names, Social Security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers and birth dates. WOW, what else would anyone need?

The good news is that the company is taking this loss seriously, they are firing the employee who left the computer vulnerable to theft and providing credit-monitoring services for three years for those affected. This is a start but not nearly enough.

Chairman and CEO of Boeing Co. Jim McNerney writes in a memo “… the best policies, procedures, encryption software and awareness-raising in the world can’t force people to use them” and he is correct, but maybe simple policies of not being able to store such data on a portable device could. Is that such a difficult concept? There is no work in the world that is important enough to take home with you if it means risking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

A little common sense can go a long way.