Identity theft: who's at risk?
Stories today and earlier this week about a security breach at The Dental Network, a CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield dental HMO, caused concern for some readers who are current or former plan members who worried their information might have been compromised.
The business accidentally posted names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of 75,000 members on its Web site for two weeks last month. Under state law that went into effect in January, companies are required to notify consumers if their data has been disclosed.
Some people who did NOT receive letters from The Dental Network have contacted me as well as the Identity Theft Program of the state attorney general's office asking if they, too, were affected.
No, said Hugh Williams, administrator of the identity theft program.
Because the law requires companies to notify everyone whose data was involved, not receiving a letter means your information was not at risk.
And receiving a breach notification letter does not mean you're necessarily a victim of identity theft, said Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center. If your credit or debit card numbers were exposed, you should definitely cancel those accounts immediately and get new cards.
But if your Social Security number was affected, you should protect yourself against the possibility of someone opening fraudulent accounts with your info by monitoring your credit reports carefully and consider a security or credit freeze, said Jeannine Kenney of the Consumers Union, which has a campaign called Financial Privacy Now!.
Check out more information about them here, courtesy of Dan Thanh. And if you give the freeze a try, let us know!
Here's the contact info for the state's ID Theft Unit:
(410) 576-6491
fax: (410) 576-6566
idtheft@oag.state.md.us
200 St. Paul Place
16th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
http://www.oag.state.md.us./idtheft/
