New Massachusetts regulations, effective January 1, 2009, are a clarion call for corporate human resources departments to join the war on identity theft. The regulations mandate the development and implementation of a "written, comprehensive information security program" to safeguard the information of Massachusetts employees and consumers. Such a program rarely will be fully effective without the involvement of human resources professionals and in-house employment counsel.

While these regulations apply only to organizations with Massachusetts employees, even employers without a Massachusetts presence should consider implementing a similar program. These regulations likely will be a model for other jurisdictions and could become the standard against which all information security programs are measured. Continue reading. . .