The National Institute of Standards and Technology have recently released new security guidelines for protecting digitally stored information from intrusions. NIST security guidelines represent a collection of the best company practices, and in the past have represented industry standards for digital information security. When so much of the onus of keeping individual’s personal data private and secure falls on the companies themselves, these guidelines become an incredibly important gauge of the trustworthiness of the companies holding your data. Avoid dealing with businesses not conforming to the NIST’s recommendations.