In an age where information flows freely and digital communication has become the norm, safeguarding sensitive data has never been more critical. Public employees, who play an indispensable role in maintaining the smooth functioning of societies, are increasingly finding themselves vulnerable to threats due to the accessibility of their personal and professional information. In addition to the increase in vulnerabilities, across the U.S., there has been a surge of harassment, attacks, and violent threats targeting civic and public officials and their families. Threats such as doxing, identity theft, targeted harassment, and even death threats have become increasingly common, posing real and tangible risks to the safety and well-being of public servants.
According to research conducted by TIME, "threats against federal judges have spiked 400% in the past six years, to more than 4,200 in 2021. At the same time, a study by John Hopkins University found that out of 583 local health departments, "57% reported that staff had been targeted with personal threats, doxing, vandalism, and other forms of harassment during the pandemic.”
Unfortunately, it is all too common for judges, public defenders, and prosecutors to face threats from people involved in a case or passionate observers.
The grand jurors who voted to indict President Trump were subject to death threats and a torrent of racist comments online. Their purported addresses were also posted on right-wing forums. This act of releasing private information such as someone’s real name, home address, workplace, phone, financial, and other personal information.is a part of the act of “doxing.”
Oxford defines doxing as, “the action or process of searching for and publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent.”
This constant exposure to threats has led to heightened levels of anxiety, stress, depression, and in some counties, a pervasive sense of unease. This hyper-vigilant state has caused some to take the route of a councilwoman in N.C. and buy a gun and obtain a conceal carry license to protect their family. However, for many, many others, it was all more than what they could cope with and put in their resignation.
A major issue with this form of harassment is the need for, “ample evidence before charging Americans for making threats because of the thin line between threats and protected speech.” Thus, until laws catch up, we cannot rely on traditional law enforcement tactics of investigation and prosecution. Therefore, the first line of defense must be protecting your employees before the law needs to get involved.
The TIME article also notes that the rise in violent threats has also strained many state and local budgets, “by forcing steps like hiring armed guards for their homes, installing bulletproof glass in local government offices, investing in trauma counseling for staff, and devoting time and resources to things like active-shooter trainings and monitoring emails and phone calls for menacing messages that might have to be reported to law enforcement.”
Luckily there are already states that recognize this need and have begun to take action to protect our public servants. Inspired by concerns over individuals exploiting public records to locate and harass law enforcement officers and public servants, Alabama recently passed a law which protects the personal information of certain officials including judges, law enforcement officers, and legislators from being released in public records. Equally as important, the law also created a legal definition for “doxing.”
As part of this added protection, state and local agencies and departments are now required to provide a form for the protected officials that allows them to request, “the redaction of personal identifying information from the records of the department or agency.”
The escalating threats against public employees demand proactive measures to ensure their safety and the integrity of sensitive data. By incorporating redaction software into their workflow, public agencies can significantly mitigate risks and enhance their overall data security posture.
By enabling self-service and online records publishing, workloads to fulfill information requests are dramatically reduced. Extract Systems offers creative options to implement the most advanced automated redaction solution (ID Shield) to streamline online publishing and e-filing review workflows within the constraints of your budget.
Records that we have experience with and zero reported data privacy breaches:
Court Records
Land Records
Legal Discovery
UCC Filings
As technology continues to evolve, so do the tools of malicious actors. The battle to safeguard sensitive information requires equally sophisticated countermeasures. Redaction software stands as a formidable defense against the growing threats faced by public employees.
About the Author: Jared Smith
Jared is a Customer Support Specialist at Extract with experience in enterprise software implementation and support, data analysis, and achieving premier clientele success. Jared received two bachelor's degrees from the University of Kentucky - Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and a B.A. in Integrated Strategic Communication. Jared is committed to client success while creating welcoming work environments for team collaboration and innovation.