NIST Drafts Privacy Risk Mgmt Framework for Government-Operated Info Systems

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released draft guidance for managing privacy risks in smart city technologies and connected devices, Nextgov reported Monday.

Aliya Sternstein writes the guide is designed to engage industry to help the public sector develop strategies to safeguard privacy of information collected from both cyber and physical resources.

NIST also offered a process for federal agencies to address privacy-related issues in their Internet-facing data infrastructure, including cloud computing and big data systems, the report said.

Naomi Lefkovitz, a senior privacy policy adviser at NIST, told Nextgov that she believes the guidelines could help the departments of Transportation and Homeland Security as well as other agencies that implement public safety sensors.

According to Sternstein, the document also offers a mathematical formula for agencies to determine the likelihood that a system will put citizen privacy at risk.