Should a teacher’s Facebook posts ruin her career?

A former high school teacher is suing a north Georgia school district, alleging she was forced to resign over photos and expletives on Facebook.

Ashley Payne contends that the Barrow County school district violated state labor law because she was never told she was entitled to a hearing. Her attorney, Richard Storrs, says the 24-year-old former Apalachee High School teacher was “not made aware of her rights” and should be granted the hearing.

After teaching at the school for two years, Payne resigned in August after her principal questioned her about her Facebook page, which included photos of her holding wine and beer and an expletive.

(Payne told the Athens Banner Herald it was the “B” word that landed her in hot water with her principal. She posted it in the context of saying she was going to an Atlanta restaurant that featured a game called Crazy “B” Bingo.  Here is a link to the bars that hold Crazy Bxxxx Bingo games.) According to the AJC.com

Breach-Proofing your organization brings many benefits...

Roanoke City Public Schools Surplus computers sold containing 2000 employees’ names and Social Security numbers...  

University of Louisville  A database with the names, social security numbers and other personal information of 708 dialysis patients was accessible via the Internet for more than a year, university officials announced Wednesday morning.

In order to prevent data breaches before they occur requires building a “Breach-Free Culture” within your organization.  Properly training employees across all areas of your business is a necessary component to breach-proofing your organization.

Another reason to incorporate training into your data breach prevention efforts is that, although cyber-criminals may get the headlines and media attention, the fact is that more than 88% of all breaches are caused by human error and process failures. Technology can't stop someone from making mistakes, however, training that changes behavior can!

Breach-Proofing your organization brings many benefits. We've all seen the statistics... Data breaches cost an average of $202 per record lost... 40% of consumers change their relationship with affected businesses... fines for non-compliance with the law can run into tens of thousands of dollars... lawsuits cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend and even millions of dollars to settle.

Creating a Breach-Proof Culture, where employees across all departments and areas share a heightened sensitivity, understanding and commitment to eliminating breaches can reduce your organizations risk.