Editorial

We continue to show our support of IACA by including an article by Randy Moes, IACA President. I agree with Randy – even though there were severe travel restrictions this year, the IACA Conference in Colorado was a marked success. Thanks to all who made the Denver IACA Conference possible. I hope everyone can attend next year’s conference in the great state of Texas and as more information becomes available, I am sure Randy will relay that in future VirtuoSOS issues.

Two articles addressing topics of definite interest to you – Business Information Sharing and Quality Assurance Programs as applied to the Secretary of State ‐ have been included in this VirtuoSOS issue. Rather than imposing a parochial view on these topics, I am pleased that one of your confreres, Tom Wrosch from Oregon, agreed to provide his view of how registration programs have shared information with other agencies, and how information sharing continues to expand. Thank You Tom! Additionally, Dr. William Shaffer, President of Waysys LLC has kindly agreed to provide his view on Quality Assurance. Please e‐mail them directly should you wish additional information.

As to a topic that is foremost in my mind, it is that of Automated Filing Security. Recently, I overheard the statement that it is much easier to commit fraud in an automated filing system than in a paper one. Obviously, if an automated filing system is designed and implemented with no security features in mind then yes it is much easier to commit fraud in the automated system. A simple checked statement saying that under penalty of law, you are who you are and that you have entered truthful information, may not be enough of a deterrent to prevent fraud, especially if there is no way to track the source of entry on a filing. I realize that identity verification may or may not be within the jurisdiction of a given SOS and if not then there may be no choice but to have a simple statement checked. However, there are simple processes that may be considered to enhance filing security.

As a suggestion, when an initial filing occurs, the person performing the filing (via a user id and password) could list a set of user id’s that already exist in the system that have permission to alter the filing later. These user id’s related to authorized users can be updated at any time — adding new user id’s or deleting existing ones — by people with authority to do so. This would greatly narrow the people who can alter a filing and would, in effect, make it harder to commit fraud via the online system as compared to a paper system.

In the case of folks that don’t access the system very often (e.g. once per year for an annual filing), a “forgot user id” link could be provided that prompts for an email address and emails the user id associated with that email address to that email address. In addition, a “forgot password” link could be provided that asks for a user id, then emails a new password to the email address associated with that user id. The user can then change that password when they log in. Thoughts?

Now for the disclaimer: Please note that CCIS is continually bringing you a diverse spectrum of authors and content. We naturally recommend that you consult with your local experts on these matters as well, as we really cannot be responsible for the content provided to us by contributing writers. Should you have any issue with specific content, please contact the author directly.

Ted Paczek
Editor
tpaczek@ccis‐inc.com

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