Q&A
Staff training on data privacy and handling sensitive information
1:45:16
·
4 min
Council Member Avilés inquires about staff training on data privacy laws and handling sensitive information across various city agencies involved in asylum seeker services. The discussion reveals some details about the training processes and data protection measures in place.
- The Mayor's Office of Asylum Seeker Operations has a data privacy officer and strict access controls for their data system
- DHS reports ongoing training for city employees on cyber security, IT, data sharing, confidentiality, and privacy
- NICEM provides annual refresher trainings for staff, vendors, and contractors, who have all signed confidentiality agreements
- Access to data systems is tightly controlled, with different levels of access for different types of staff
- Specific details about the frequency and content of training for some agencies were not immediately available
Alexa Avilés
1:45:16
I mean, we still get text messages and emails of people trying to chase their mail.
1:45:22
So can you walk me through well, actually, I'm conflating 2 questions.
1:45:29
Just I'm making a statement.
1:45:31
There's still a lot of problems with the mail.
1:45:33
It's very well documented.
1:45:34
It comes up on a daily basis.
1:45:38
Can you can you talk to me about the training that you have engaged your staff across all systems on data privacy?
Molly Schaeffer
1:45:47
Well, we have we my office is the folder of the data system, and so we have, our general counsel, is obviously very focused on data privacy and ensuring that whatever we give to anybody, we have appropriate protections on.
1:46:05
We also have a data privacy officer in my office to make sure that whatever we're giving, and then given, what's going on, we've been doing a lot of, scenario planning around around data privacy and what kinds of protections we have and need, as we continue.
Alexa Avilés
1:46:26
And how are you training?
1:46:27
How many staff do you need to train on these issues?
Molly Schaeffer
1:46:31
So our staff is, we only have 28, but we have very few people who have access to the data system, and we keep that very tight, and that's intentional.
1:46:42
And it's only people who truly understand the data privacy posture of the city and the data privacy specific to immigration data, which obviously is a higher level of concern.
1:46:57
There's, we're obviously, we we have training for, contractors and shelter staff on both sanctuary city laws and data protection, and we're very conscientious about what kind of data people have access to, and there's lots of protections on if you are a shelter staff, you only get to see x amount of x part of the data system versus others.
1:47:22
So that's something that we take really intensely when we think about it, but I'm happy to if any of my colleagues have anything particular to their shelter system.
Alexa Avilés
1:47:32
I'd love to hear from from DHS and the other agencies around how how who they're training, how they're training, and what that training looks like.
UNKNOWN
1:47:42
So in terms of data, as Malia says, most of the data is managed by the city.
1:47:49
In terms of our regular, poster and data, we do have also data privacy, staff and our IT and legal constantly in communication.
1:48:01
Privacy is very important for our clients as a whole, not only for new arrivals.
1:48:06
And we work very closely with the administration to ensure that privacy is given to our clients, not only for data, but also in terms of their status and immigration as a whole.
Alexa Avilés
1:48:18
So how often are you training staff around the importance of data privacy?
UNKNOWN
1:48:24
So we would have to get that
Alexa Avilés
1:48:25
And what the current laws look like?
UNKNOWN
1:48:27
There is often training as a system as particularly for us at, as city employees in terms of cyber and IT and data sharing and confidentiality and privacy.
1:48:40
So that's always ongoing for us as an agency.
Alexa Avilés
1:48:44
Got it.
1:48:46
Would you would you like to respond to the question?
UNKNOWN
1:48:49
Sure.
1:48:51
As Iris mentioned, NICEM trains not only NICEM staff, but also our vendors and contractors, and they've all signed confidentiality agreements.
1:49:00
We do, on an annual basis, require refresher trainings and, update those in conjunction with counsel and our data privacy officer on a regular basis.
1:49:11
But again, the systems that we use for this purpose are owned by Owasso and therefore, you know, we all follow a uniform system.
