News & Updates
Small Talk from the VP: You are the Target!
By Dave Smallen
September 22, 2015
I just finished activating the free two-year credit monitoring and identity theft protection provided by Excellus, Hamilton’s health care provider. They are providing these services because of a breach of the confidential data they maintain about their clients – including me (and probably you). In announcing the incident, Excellus president and CEO, Christopher Booth, indicated “Safeguarding the privacy of your personal information is a top priority for us, and we make every effort to protect your information. Despite these efforts, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield was targeted in a very sophisticated cyberattack.”
What does monitoring and protection actually mean in this case, and how worried should I/you be?
The monitoring service is provided through Kroll a cybersecurity and risk management firm. The most important thing to understand is that these services will NOT prevent you from being the victim of credit card fraud or identity theft. Instead the service alerts you to suspicious activity. You will still have to deal with the consequences. Anyone who has lost a credit card knows that cancelling the card is the easy part. Getting a new one and revisiting all the business web sites at which you use the card can be a time consuming pain. These days when I go to the doctor, or hospital, I am often asked about my pain on a scale of zero to ten. The pain of losing a credit card is probably close to a three, identity theft can be closer to a ten - as this story illustrates.
In a recent article in Network World about the data breach in February, 2015 at Anthem – another health care provider- it was estimated that the value on the black market of social security numbers was ten times that of credit cards. Stealing social security numbers, along with other personally identifiable information (PII), such as your name and birth date, has a serious downside. With that information criminals can take out loans in your name, apply for new credit cards, obtain your tax refund or transfer money from your bank account. It is really hard to cancel or change your social security number and you can’t change when you were born. :<)
Credit card monitoring includes watching for suspicious activity with your existing credit cards or attempts to obtain new credit cards or loans in your name. Other things that are monitored include activity related to your bank accounts. The service provided by Kroll also monitors web sites that are frequented by criminals trying to sell stolen information. If any suspicious activity that involves your information is detected, you receive a call or email alert.
Through Kroll, you also have access to consultants who can help you ease the pain related to being a victim of identity theft, as well as answering questions you might have about how to further protect yourself. These agents will also work on your behalf to deal with the fallout if you become a victim.
If you have health care coverage through Excellus and haven’t yet signed up for credit monitoring, what are you waiting for?
Note: Data breaches are only one of the many threats you face in this online world. To find out about ways you can protect yourself, I encourage you to attend security awareness training at Hamilton in October, during National Cybersecurity Awareness month.
