Advantage Dental ("Advantage"), an Oregon-based dental services provider notified 151,626 patients of a breach of personal patient protected health information (PHI/HIPAA) after its intrusion detection system discovered an internal database at Advantage was illegally accessed. The unauthorized access occurred between February 23, 2015 and February 26, 2015. The intruder was able to gain access to this database through a computer that had been infected with malware. Advantage terminated the illegal access immediately upon discovery on February 26, 2015. The intrusion resulted in the unauthorized access to the name, date of birth, phone number, social security number, and home address. No treatment, payment, or any other financial data was accessed.
Since terminating the illegal access, Advantage has been reviewing and improving its safeguards, implemented mitigation steps to prevent further access and has been working with law enforcement to properly determine the scope of the incident and any additional steps that might be required. At this time, Advantage has no indication that the stolen information has been used for criminal activity, to include identity theft.
In conjunction with law enforcement, Advantage is working to notify impacted patients. Advantage has in place safeguards to assure the privacy and security of all patient health information. Advantage is always looking for further ways to improve the security of its operations and will continue to do so.
In a notification to patients, Advantage has offered their resources as well as credit monitoring and call center support through Experian®. Experian® has trained staff available for patients to call with any questions related to this event. Patients may call [866-271-3084] from 6:00am - 6:00pm (PDT), Monday through Friday, and 8:00am - 5:00pm (PDT) Saturday and Sunday, with any questions or concerns. Advantage also is offering Experian's premium ProtectMyID® Elite product for two years at no charge. Affected patients will receive a letter in the mail with the details on how to sign up for these services. We at Advantage are confident that this offering will best serve the affected patients. In addition, patients may visit Advantage's web site at: www.advantagedental.com.
For questions regarding the press release, please contact Jeff Dover at 541-504-3961 or by email at [email protected].
The intrusion resulted in the unauthorized access to the name, date of birth, phone number, social security number, and home address.
No big deal. Certainly not as bad as the most recent Blue Cross data breach that included personal health information. 11 million customers: "the largest breach reported to date involving patient medical information, according to Dave Kennedy, an expert in health care security who is chief executive of TrustedSEC." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/business/premera-blue-cross-says-data-breach-exposed-medical-data.html?_r=0
Just ask victims of identity theft, like my husband and I. We tried to file our taxes last year and found that a fraudster had beat us to the punch. Two attempts on March 6th and March 12th where our SSNs were separated and filed with two new virtual spouses. The IRS algorithms didn't allow the filing to go through on March 6th. But they did for my husband and his new virtual spouse on March 12th last year. Hmmm... and we have been filing jointly since we married and have had the same accountant since 1991.
We owed money so we aren't waiting for a refund that is rightfully ours. My niece and her husband (who are owed a significant sum of money) may wait a long time. Not easy since they have a baby now.
With Obamacare and the IRS, we can expect further nightmares to unfold.
Governmental agencies and the private sector are not adequately protecting our confidential information in the era of big data--regardless of whether the Target settlement pays victims up to $10,000. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/03/19/target-data-breach-victims-could-get-up-10000-each-from-court-settlement/
Kris Alman