2020 Census: data security and confidentiality

Now that Census 2020 has resumed operations in Arizona and given the importance of the 2020 Census to your communities and our state, below are tips for you to help you respond.

The U.S. Census Bureau is committed to data security and confidentiality, and has implemented a number of protocols and procedures to ensure it, including:

• Following industry best practices and federal requirements to protect data.
• Designing an IT infrastructure to defend against and contain cyberthreats and continuously monitoring to identify and prevent threats.
• Collecting self-responses via a secure page on 2020census.gov, and via encrypted devices used by census takers.
• Census responses are not shared with law enforcement or immigration agencies, and responses cannot be used against individuals.

All Census Bureau employees take an oath for life to protect census responses and data before they begin work. Violating this oath is a federal crime, punishable by prison time and/or a fine of up to $250,000.

More information can be found here: https://2020census.gov/en/data-protection.html