[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca 4-5-2006
by Ord. No. 2006-9. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Public access to records — See Ch. 256.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Cyber Security
Citizens' Notification Policy."
The policy set forth in this Chapter is intended to be consistent with
the State Technology Law, § 208, as added by Chapters 442 and 491
of the Laws of 2005. This policy requires notification to affected New York
residents and nonresidents. The City of Ithaca and New York State value the
protection of private information of individuals. The City of Ithaca is required
to notify an individual when there has been or is reasonably believed to have
been a compromise of the individual's private information, in compliance
with the applicable provisions of the State Technology Law and this policy.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
- COMPROMISE OF PRIVATE INFORMATION
- The unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted computerized data containing private information from records maintained by the City of Ithaca.
- CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY
- Any person or entity which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties, and which uses any means or facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing consumer reports. (The State Attorney General is responsible for compiling a list of consumer reporting agencies and furnishing the list upon request to the City of Ithaca.)
- DATA
- Any information created, stored (in temporary or permanent form), filed, produced or reproduced, regardless of the form or media. Data may include, but is not limited to personally identifying information, reports, files, folders, memoranda, statements, examinations, transcripts, images, communications, and electronic or hard copy.
- INFORMATION
- The representation of facts, concepts, or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by human or automated means.
- PERSONAL INFORMATION
- Any information concerning a natural person which, because of name, number, personal mark or other identifier, can be used to identify such natural person.
- A. Personal information in combination with any one or more of the following data elements, when either the personal information or the data element is not encrypted or encrypted with an encryption key that has also been acquired:
- B. Private information does not include publicly available information that is lawfully made available to the general public from federal, state, or local government records.
- THIRD-PARTY
- Any nonmunicipal employee such as a contractor, vendor, consultant, intern, other municipality, etc.
A.
The City of Ithaca, after consulting with the State's
Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination (hereinafter
"CSCIC") to determine the scope of the breach and restoration measures, shall
notify an individual, as quickly as is practicable, when it has been determined
that there has been, or is reasonably believed to have been, a compromise
of that individual's private information through unauthorized disclosure.
B.
If encrypted data is compromised along with the corresponding
encryption key, the data is considered unencrypted and thus falls under the
aforementioned notification requirements.
C.
The notification required hereunder may be delayed if
a law enforcement agency determines that the notification impedes a criminal
investigation. In such case, notification will be delayed only as long as
needed until it has been determined that such notification no longer compromises
any such investigation.
D.
The City of Ithaca shall notify the affected individual(s)
by one of the following methods:
(1)
Written notice delivered to the individual or mailed
or delivered to the individual's address of record;
(2)
Electronic notice, provided that the person to whom notice
is required has expressly consented to receiving notice in electronic form
and a log of each such notification is kept by the City of Ithaca, in such
form;
(3)
Telephone notification, provided that a log of each such
notification is kept by the City of Ithaca; or
(4)
Substitute notice, if the City of Ithaca demonstrates
to the State Attorney General that the cost of providing notice would exceed
$250,000, or that the affected class of persons to be notified exceeds 500,000,
or that the City of Ithaca does not have sufficient contact information for
the affected person(s). The following, together, constitute sufficient substitute
notice:
E.
The City of Ithaca shall notify the CSCIC as to the timing,
content and distribution of the notices and approximate number of affected
persons.
F.
The City of Ithaca shall notify the State Attorney General
and the State Consumer Protection Board, whenever notification to a New York
resident is necessary, as to the timing, content and distribution of the notices
and approximate number of affected persons.
G.
Regardless of the method by which notice is provided,
the notice must include contact information for the City of Ithaca and a description
of the categories of information that were, or are reasonably believed to
have been, acquired by a person without valid authorization, including specification
of which of the elements of personal information and private information were,
or are reasonably believed to have been, so acquired.
H.
This policy also applies to information maintained on
behalf of the City of Ithaca by a third party.
I.
When more than 5,000 New York residents must be notified
at one time, then in that case the City of Ithaca shall notify the consumer
reporting agencies as to the timing, content and distribution of the notices
and the approximate number of affected individuals. This notice shall be made
without delaying notice to the affected individual(s).
The Mayor shall ensure that a written, city-wide protocol is established,
which protocol shall stipulate how the notification requirements in this policy
are to be implemented.
