After criminals recently accessed ChoicePoint’s database of consumer records, potentially viewing the personal data of about 35,000 Californians, ChoicePoint has engaged the services of Ernst & Young LLP to conduct a best practices study and help the company develop additional, standard-setting privacy, credentialing and compliance practices.

“ChoicePoint is committed to implementing the best policies and procedures in our industry. To do that, we have enlisted the help of Ernst & Young and its respected privacy advisory team,” said Carol DiBattiste, ChoicePoint’s chief credentialing, compliance and privacy officer. Ernst & Young has been assisting companies from various industries with Privacy Assurance & Advisory Services for more than eight years.

“We have gone beyond our announced commitments to make substantial changes in the past 90 days. We have changed our products to restrict the display or delivery of sensitive personally identifiable information across several businesses, not just our public records offerings as we said in March,” DiBattiste said. “We have strengthened our customer credentialing procedures by centralizing the credentialing processes, adding new requirements for accepting an organization as a customer and expanding our site visit program. Large groups of our customer base have been re-credentialed and we have walked away from an entire market segment.

“Now, Ernst & Young will review our current processes and compare them against the best practices in our industry and the general corporate community. Once that phase is completed, Ernst & Young will assist us in further enhancing an industry-leading compliance program.”

The appointment of Ernst & Young is part of ChoicePoint’s previously announced creation of an independent Office of Credentialing, Compliance and Privacy. The office oversees policies regarding the company’s compliance with local, state and federal privacy laws, regulations and company policies, as well as the credentialing of customers.