Healthow a healthcare claims provider in upstate New York has earned a spot on our office identity theft "Wall of Shame" this month for totally blowing how to handle a data loss then offering a service they will do next to nothing and the high cost will ultimately be passed on to their employers or members directly.
Last week the Buffalo, New York claims provider sent letters to 40,000 members alerting them to a possible loss of personal information. An employee downloaded patient information and then apparently lost the laptop. Apparently this happened many months ago and they first “spent an exorbitant amount of time” to try and locate the laptop, which they still believe is in the company’s building.
This company is responsible for keeping track of medical and health records of thousands and they want people to believe that they are just sitting on a laptop they cannot find. Maybe when they clean their room it will turn up. What are they, a 10 year old? It does not give me much confidence and points to pure lack of control on their part.
Then they make a second attempt at pacification by stating they are not even sure what information it contained. Teenagers deploy keyloggers, governors get their text messages exposed, malware can track every click of a mouse, and parents can track and view everything a child does on a computer for $39, but a healthcare organization of this magnitude has not a clue what their employee downloads from their database.
The employee is now a former employee but apparently they are still in contact with him. Another vote of confidence.
And the final nail in the coffin is this statement: “With all of the factors and orchestrating credit monitoring, we do believe our response time has been reasonable. Reasonable? For who? Around 4 months has passed and any chance of giving the people a heads up to potential fraud is all but vanished.
If you read between the lines....the laptop has sensitive information on it, they know it, that is why they looked for it for months. Better to not have to be exposed. The former employee who left for another job, fired within a week of the loss or theft. That laptop with sensitive information is long gone, they know it. Now, backed into a corner and options have run out, time to air the dirty laundry.
And to throw out a useless bone, free credit monitoring for a year. When you get alerted by the agency that someone tried to open an account in your name, you'll sleep better knowing a stranger definitely has your personal information and is trying to use it. Credit monitoring will alert you right away that a thief has opened up and used $10,000 of credit in your name. That way you can start the mop up and recovery process.
But wait, the thief may not be done with your information. They will use it for draining existing bank accounts, or for a criminal arrest and then the patient or victim get s warrants issued against them for not appearing in court. It will be useful when medical services are provided to the thief, or prescriptions are obtained then sold illegally on the street. It is handy for a disability claim , or sell to an illegal immigrant to get a job. So much for the monitoring bone, won't help with any of this.
There are pro-active ways to defend yourself against many of these pitfalls, but knowing about them in a timely manner is key.
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