Ohio Administrative Code
Title 117 - Auditor of State
Chapter 117-12 - Personal Information Systems
Section 117-12-01 - Personal information systems- definitions
Universal Citation: OH Admin Code 117-12-01
Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
The Ohio auditor of state herein establishes a rule for the protection of confidential personal information. Ohio auditor of state systems maintained in the regular course of business that contain personal information that is confidential in nature will be accessed in accordance with this rule established pursuant to division (B) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code.
(A) Definitions
(1) "Access" as a noun means an instance of
copying, viewing or otherwise perceiving whereas "access" as a verb means to
copy, view, or otherwise perceive.
(2) "Acquisition of a new computer system"
means the purchase of a "computer system," as defined in this rule, that is not
a computer system currently in place nor one for which the acquisition process
has been initiated as of the effective date of the auditor of state rule
addressing requirements in section
1347.15
of the Revised Code.
(3) "Computer
system" means a "system," as defined by division (F) of section
1347.01
of the Revised Code, that stores, maintains, or retrieves personal information
using electronic data processing equipment.
(4) "Confidential personal information" (CPI)
has the meaning as defined by division (A)(1) of section
1347.15
of the Revised Code and identified by rules promulgated by the auditor of state
in accordance with division (B)(3) of section
1347.15
of the Revised Code that reference the federal or state statutes of
administrative rules that make personal information maintained by the auditor
of state confidential.
(5)
"Employee of the state auditor of state" means each employee of the auditor of
state regardless of whether he/she holds an elected or appointed office or
position.
(6) "Incidental contact"
means contact with the information that is secondary or tangential to the
primary purpose of the activity that resulted in the contact.
(7) "Individual" means a natural person or
the natural person's authorized representative, legal counsel, legal custodian,
or legal guardian.
(8)
"Informational owner" means the individual appointed in accordance with
division (A) of section
1347.05
of the Revised Code to be directly responsible for a system.
(9) "Person" means a natural
person.
(10) "Personal information"
has the same meaning as defined in division (E) of section
1347.01
of the Revised Code.
(11)
"Research" means a methodical investigation into a subject.
(12) "Routine" means commonplace, regular,
habitual, or ordinary.
(13)
"Routine information that is maintained for the purpose
of internal office administration, the use of which would not adversely affect
a person" as that phrase is used in division (F) of section
1347.01
of the Revised Code means personal information relating to employees and
maintained by the auditor of state for internal administrative and human
resource purposes.
(14) "System"
has the same meaning as defined by division (F) of section
1347.01
of the Revised Code.
(15) "Upgrade"
means a substantial redesign of an existing computer system for the purpose of
providing a substantial amount of new application functionality, or application
modifications that would involve substantial administrative or fiscal resources
to implement, but would not include maintenance, minor updates and patches, or
modifications that entail a limited addition of functionality due to changes in
business or legal requirements.
(B) Procedures for accessing CPI.
For personal information systems, whether manual or computer systems, that contain CPI, the auditor of state shall do the following:
(1) Criteria for accessing CPI. Personal
information systems of the auditor of state are managed on a need-to-know basis
whereby the information owner determines the level of access required for an
employee of the auditor of state to fulfill his/her job duties. The
determination of access to CPI shall be approved by the employee's supervisor
and the information owner prior to providing the employee with access to CPI
within a personal information system. The auditor of state shall establish
procedures for determining a revision to an employee's access to CPI upon a
change to that employee's job duties including, but not limited to, transfer or
termination. Whenever an employee's job duties no longer require access to CPI
in a personal information system, the employee's access to CPI shall be
removed.
(2) Individual's request
for a list of CPI. Upon the signed written request of any individual for a list
of CPI about the individual maintained by the auditor of state, the auditor of
state shall do all of the following:
(a)
Verify the identity of the individual by a method that provides safeguards
commensurate with the risk associated with the CPI;
(b) Provide to the individual the list of CPI
that does not relate to an investigation about the individual or is otherwise
not excluded from the scope of Chapter 1347. of the Revised Code.
(3) Notice of invalid access.
(a) Upon discovery or notification that CPI
of a person has been accessed by an employee for an invalid reason, the auditor
of state shall notify the person whose information was invalidly accessed as
soon as practical and to the extent known at the time. However, the auditor of
state shall delay notification for a period of time necessary to ensure that
the notification would not delay or impede an investigation or jeopardize
homeland or national security. Additionally, the auditor of state may delay the
notification consistent with any measures necessary to determine the scope of
the invalid access, including which individuals' CPI was invalidly accessed,
and to restore the reasonable integrity of the system.
"Investigation" as used in this paragraph means the investigation of the circumstances and involvement of an employee surrounding the invalid access of the CPI. Once the auditor of state determines that notification would not delay or impede an investigation, the auditor of state shall disclose that invalid access to CPI occurred.
(b) Notification provided by the auditor of
state shall inform the person of the type of CPI accessed and the date(s) of
the invalid access.
(c)
Notification may be made by any method reasonably designed to accurately inform
the person of the invalid access, including written, electronic, or telephone
notice.
(C) Valid reasons for accessing confidential personal information.
(1) Performing the following functions
constitute valid reasons for authorized employees of the auditor of state to
access confidential personal information.
(a)
Responding to a public records request;
(b) Responding to a request from
an
individual for the list of CPI the auditor of state may access on that
individual;
(c) Administering a
constitutional, statutory or administrative rule provision or duty;
(d) Complying with any state or federal
program requirements;
(e) Auditing
purposes;
(f) Investigation or law
enforcement purposes;
(g)
Administrative hearings;
(h)
Litigation, complying with an order of the court, or subpoena;
(i) Human resource matters (e.g., hiring,
promotion, demotion, discharge, salary/compensation issues, leave
requests/issues, time card approvals/ issues);
(j) Complying with an auditor of state policy
issued by another state or federal agency with authority.
(k) Complying with a collective bargaining
agreement provision.
(2)
To the extent the general processes described in paragraph (C)(1) of this rule
do not cover the circumstances under consideration, for the purpose of carrying
out specific duties of the auditor of state, authorized employees would also
have valid reasons for accessing CPI as set forth in any applicable policy
adopted by the auditor of state.
(3) Data privacy point of contact. The
auditor of state shall designate an employee to serve as the data privacy point
of contact to ensure that CPI is properly identified and protected and that the
auditor of state achieves compliance with the section
1347.15
of the Revised Code and the rules adopted pursuant to the authority provided by
that chapter. Such designee shall complete a privacy impact assessment
form.
(4) Password required. The
information technology division shall ensure that a password or other
authentication measure be used to access CPI that is kept in an electronic
system.
(D) Confidentiality statutes
The following federal statutes or regulations or state statutes and administrative rules make personal information maintained by the auditor of state confidential and identify the CPI within the scope of rules promulgated by the auditor of state in accordance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code.
(1) Records the
release of which is prohibited by state or federal law: division (A)(1) (v) of
section
149.43
of the Revised Code.
(2) Social
security numbers: 5 U.S.C. section 552a, unless the individual was told that the
number would be disclosed.
(E) Restricting and logging access to CPI in computerized personal information systems.
For personal information systems that are computer systems and contain CPI, the auditor of state shall do the following.
(1) Access restrictions. Access to CPI that
is kept electronically shall require a password or other authentication
measure.
(2) Acquisition of a new
computer system. When the auditor of state acquires a new computer system that
stores, manages or contains CPI, the auditor of state shall include a mechanism
for recording specific access by employees of the auditor of state to CPI in
the system.
(3) Upgrading existing
computer systems. When the auditor of state modifies an existing computer
system that stores, manages or contains CPI, the auditor of state shall make a
determination whether the modification constitutes an upgrade. Any upgrades to
a computer system shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by
employees of the auditor of state to CPI in the system.
(4) Logging requirements regarding CPI in
existing computer systems.
(a) The auditor of
state shall require its employees who access CPI within computer systems to
maintain a log that records that access.
(b) Access to CPI is not required to be
entered into the log under the following circumstances.
(i) The employee is accessing CPI for
official agency purposes, including research, and the access is not
specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of
specifically named individuals.
(ii) The employee is accessing CPI for
routine office procedures and the access is not specifically directed toward a
specifically named individual or a group of specifically named
individuals.
(iii) The employee
comes into incidental contact with CPI and the access of the information is not
specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of
specifically name individuals.
(iv)
The employee accesses CPI about an individual based upon a request made under
either of the following circumstances.
(a) The
individual requests CPI about himself/herself.
(b) The individual makes a request that the
auditor of state take some action on that individual's behalf and accessing the
CPI is required in order to consider or process that request.
(c) For purposes of
this paragraph, the auditor of state may choose the form or forms of logging,
whether in electronic or paper formats.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Ohio may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
