(A) Definitions.
For the purposes of rules promulgated by this
agency in accordance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code, the following
definitions apply:
(1) "Access"
means to copy, view, or otherwise perceive, or an opportunity 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 this rule.
(3) "Computer
system" means a "system," as defined in 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 same meaning that it does in division
(A)(1) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code. The appendix to this rule
identifies, in accordance with division (B)(3) of section 1347.15 of the
Revised Code, the federal statutes and regulations and state statutes and
administrative rules that make personal information maintained by the agency
confidential.
(5) "Employee of the
state agency" means each employee of a state agency regardless of whether
he or she holds an elected or appointed office or position within the state
agency. "Employee of the state agency" is limited to the specific
employing state agency.
(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 and in the
context used in division (C)(1)(b) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code, and
paragraph (E)(4)(b)(iv) of this rule, means the subject of the confidential
personal information, or the authorized representative, legal counsel, legal
custodian or legal guardian of the subject of the confidential personal
information, or any other similarly situated person who is permitted under
state or federal law to act on behalf of, or in furtherance of, the interests
of the subject of the confidential personal information, such as an executor or
administrator appointed by the court or individual granted power of attorney by
the subject of the information. "Individual" does not include an
opposing party in litigation, or the opposing party's legal counsel, or an
investigator, auditor or any other party who is not acting on behalf of, or in
furtherance of the interests of, the subject of the confidential personal
information, even if such individual has obtained a signed release from the
subject of the confidential personal information.
(8) "Information
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 it does in division (E) of section
1347.01 of the Revised Code.
(11) "Personal
information system" means a "system" that "maintains"
"personal information" as those terms are defined in section 1347.01
of the Revised Code. "System" includes both records that are manually
stored and records that are stored using electronic data processing
equipment.
(12) "Research"
means a methodical investigation into a subject.
(13) "Routine"
means commonplace, regular, habitual, or ordinary.
(14) "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 ODJFS employees and maintained by the
agency for internal administrative and human resource purposes.
(15) "System"
has the same meaning as it does in division (F) of section 1347.01 of the
Revised Code.
(16) "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 confidential
personal information.
(1) Criteria for
accessing confidential personal information.
Personal information systems of the Ohio
department of job and family services (ODJFS) are managed on a
"need-to-know" basis whereby the information owner determines the
level of access required for an employee of the agency to fulfill his or her
job duties. The determination of access to confidential personal information
shall be approved by the employee's supervisor and the information owner
before providing the employee with access to confidential personal information
within a personal information system. The agency shall establish procedures for
determining a revision to an employee's access to confidential personal
information upon a change to that employee's job duties (including as a
result of a job transfer) or separation from employment. Whenever an
employee's job duties no longer require access to confidential personal
information in a personal information system, the employee's access to
confidential personal information shall be promptly removed.
(2) Individual's
request for his or her own confidential personal information.
Upon the signed written request of any
individual for confidential personal information that ODJFS maintains about the
individual, ODJFS 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 any unauthorized
access to, or use or release of, confidential personal
information.
(b) Provide to the individual the confidential personal
information that is not otherwise excluded from being released under Chapter
1347. of the Revised Code, or other federal/state laws or
regulations.
(c) If information is related to an investigation about that
individual, determine what, if any, information can be disclosed to the
individual who was or is being investigated, provide the individual with any
information that is permitted to be disclosed, and inform the individual, to
the extent that it is legally required or permitted, of the legal basis for any
records that are withheld or redacted.
(3) Notice of invalid
access.
(a) Upon discovery or notification that confidential personal
information of a person has been accessed by an employee for an invalid reason,
the agency shall notify the person whose information was invalidly accessed as
soon as practical, and provide him/her with details of the unauthorized access,
to the extent known at the time. However, the agency 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 agency may delay the notification consistent with any
measures necessary to determine the scope of the invalid access, including
which individuals' confidential personal information 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 confidential personal information. Once the agency determines that
notification would not delay or impede an investigation, the agency shall
disclose the access to confidential personal information made for an invalid
reason to the person.
(b) Notification provided by the agency shall inform the person
of the type of confidential personal information accessed and the date or dates
of the invalid access, if known.
(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.
(4) Appointment of a data
privacy point of contact and completion of a privacy impact
assessment.
(a) The ODJFS director shall designate an employee of ODJFS to
serve as the data privacy point of contact under the working title of
"ODJFS chief privacy officer."
(b) The ODJFS chief privacy officer shall work with the state of
Ohio chief privacy officer and the state of Ohio chief information security
officer within the state of Ohio office of information technology to assist
ODJFS with both the implementation of privacy protections for the confidential
personal information that ODJFS maintains and compliance with section 1347.15
of the Revised Code and the rules adopted thereunder.
(c) The ODJFS chief privacy officer shall ensure the timely
completion of the "privacy impact assessment form" developed by the
state of Ohio office of information technology.
(C) Valid reasons for accessing
confidential personal information.
Division (B)(2) of section 1347.15 of the Revised
Code contains a list of valid reasons, directly related to ODJFS's
exercise of its powers or duties, for which ODJFS employees may access
confidential personal information, regardless of the format in which the
personal information system is maintained.
Except as prohibited by federal/state law,
performing the following functions constitute valid reasons for authorized
employees of the agency to access confidential personal information:
(1) Responding to a request from an
individual for the list of the confidential personal information the agency
maintains on that individual;
(2) Responding to a
request for confidential personal information or records about an individual,
submitted by someone other than the individual who is the subject of the
information, but only if the applicable confidentiality provisions contain an
exception that permits the employee to access and disclose the
individual's information/records to the requesting party;
(3) Administering a
constitutional provision or duty, such as conducting administrative hearings
and affording other forms of due process to individuals denied benefits or
services;
(4) Complying with or enforcing any state
or federal law, regulation, or administrative rule that is directly connected
to ODJFS or administration or oversight of ODJFS's various programs,
including but not limited to the following activities:
(a) Processing applications for benefits or services,
determining eligibility for benefits or services, providing services, issuing
benefits and payments, recovering overpayments, or otherwise administering or
overseeing a program with individual participants or
beneficiaries;
(b) Auditing and accounting;
(c) Processing, issuing, or revoking licenses, certificates
and certifications, permits, and tax credit documents.
(5) Investigation or law enforcement
purposes, when permitted or required by any applicable programmatic laws or
regulations;
(6) Litigation, complying with an order
of the court, or subpoena, but only after consultation with, and with the
permission of, the office of legal and acquisition services;
(7) Human resource matters (including but
not limited to hiring, promotion, demotion, discharge, salary/compensation
issues, leave requests/issues, and time card approvals/issues);
(8) Complying with an executive order or
policy that applies to ODJFS;
(9) Complying with a state-wide
administrative policy issued by the Ohio department of administrative services,
the office of budget and management, or other similar state of Ohio
agency;
(10) Complying with a collective
bargaining agreement provision; or
(11) Research in the furtherance of agency
specific programs in so far as allowed by federal and state law.
(D) Confidentiality statutes and
administrative rules.
The federal statutes and regulations and state
statutes and administrative rules listed in the appendix to this rule make
personal information maintained by the agency confidential and identify the
confidential personal information that are subject to rules promulgated by this
agency in accordance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code.
(E) Restricting and logging access to
confidential personal information systems.
For personal information systems that are
computer systems and contain confidential personal information, ODJFS shall do
the following:
(1) Access
restrictions.
Access to confidential personal information
that is kept electronically shall require a password or other sufficient
authentication measure as determined by the ODJFS chief privacy officer as part
of the "privacy impact assessment process."
(2) Acquisition of a new
computer system.
When the agency acquires a new computer system
that stores, manages, or contains confidential personal information, ODJFS
shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by employees of ODJFS
to confidential personal information in the system.
(3) Upgrading existing
computer systems.
When ODJFS modifies an existing computer system
that stores, manages, or contains confidential personal information, that
results in over half of the lines of code associated with that system being
modified, then that system must have an automated mechanism for recording
specific access by employees of ODJFS to any confidential personal information
that is accessed via that system.
Additionally, each update to a computer system
is to be reviewed by the ODJFS chief privacy officer, or designee, to determine
if an automated logging mechanism should be implemented with the proposed
change. This review is to be conducted during the design phase of the proposed
change to the computer system. It is the responsibility of the development team
to consult with the ODJFS chief privacy officer at the design phase for this
determination.
(4) Logging requirements
regarding confidential personal information in existing ODJFS computer
systems.
(a) ODJFS shall require employees who access confidential
personal information within ODJFS computer systems to maintain a log that
records that access.
(b) Access to confidential information is not required to be
entered into the log under the following circumstances:
(i) The ODJFS employee is
accessing confidential personal information 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 ODJFS employee
is accessing confidential personal information 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 ODJFS employee
comes into incidental contact with confidential personal information and the
access of the information is not specifically directed toward a specifically
named individual or a group of specifically named individuals.
(iv) The employee of the
agency accesses confidential personal information about an individual based
upon a request made under either of the following circumstances:
(a) The individual
requests confidential personal information about himself or herself;
or
(b) The individual makes
a request that ODJFS take some action on that individual's behalf and
accessing the confidential personal information is required in order to
consider or process that request.
(v) ODJFS shall use a
consistent electronic means for logging where reasonably possible. If the
logging requirements are already being met through existing means, then no
additional logging is required in those instances.
(5) Log
management.
ODJFS offices and bureaus shall document the
process for manual logging of employee access to CPI for any systems or tools
they utilize that do not automatically log such access. The log is to include
information detailing when, by whom, and for what purpose CPI in a system is or
was accessed, and all logs are to be retained for a minimum of three
years.
