Oregon Regulators Data Breach
OSPIRG
The Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) has opened a file on the Health Net data breach impacting 120,000 Oregonians, and is gathering information from the insurer on the matter.
Since January 21, Health Net has not been able to account for nine data servers containing personal information including names, addresses, social security numbers, health information and financial data of nearly two million Americans.
Health Net did not begin notifying Oregon consumers of the breach until last week, nearly two months after the incident.
On Monday, March 21, OSPIRG urged Oregon state officials at DCBS to investigate whether Health Net violated the Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act of 2007 which requires companies to safeguard consumers’ personal information, and issue speedy notification to consumers about any security breach.
“On Monday, DCBS officials said the state identity theft law did not apply to Health Net because the insurer is subject to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),” said OSPIRG advocate Laura Etherton, “Today, officials have told us they are examining HIPAA statute and the Oregon state law to determine whether that is in fact the case.”
DCBS became aware of the security breach in February.
“We are glad to learn DCBS has decided to look into this problem, and urge them to conduct a swift and thorough investigation of the matter.” said Etherton, “But we are troubled by the delay in taking action. We encourage state officials to conduct an internal investigation to determine what prevented more timely enforcement of the law to protect Oregon consumers.”
What can you do if you are a Health Net consumer impacted by the breach?
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Review your credit report and finances for unauthorized activities taking place since January 21
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Consider taking advantage of the free two years of credit monitoring that Health Net is offering
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Look into signing up for a security freeze to block unauthorized access to your credit report. You can find out more about a security freeze.
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Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) is a non-profit, non-partisan consumer group. Visit us online at www.ospirg.org
