Norman adopts program to thwart identity theft
Guidelines: It’s based on federal government’s ‘red flag rules’

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BY Jane Glenn Cannon

Published: November 13, 2008

NORMAN — An identity theft program designed to protect utility customers from potential thieves will be adopted by the city of Norman, officials said.

The program is based on guidelines, commonly known as red flag rules, issued by the federal government to financial institutions in 2003 with a mandate that they be implemented by the institutions by 2008.

Since then, city Finance Director Anthony Francisco said, the government has extended its mandate to include public utilities.

Deadline for public utility companies to comply with the mandate has been extended to May, Francisco said.

However, city council members recently adopted a resolution in support of adopting the program as soon as possible.

To comply with red flag rules, the city must appoint a senior executive to be responsible for the formation and implementation of an identity theft prevention program, Francisco said.

Additionally, the city must perform an assessment to identify potential areas of weakness in exposing customer information to red flag events.

Red flag events are defined as conditions in which customer information could possibly be stolen by outside parties for fraudulent purposes, Francisco said.

The city plans to apply the protection program to municipal court, the planning department and the information systems division, too, Francisco said.

He said no reported losses of customer information have been reported from the city’s data bases.

"But the ongoing assessment required by the red flag rules will identify useful areas for improving our systems of control to protect our customers,” Francisco said.

Related Topics: Crime, Politics, Identity Theft, Local Politics