(Salt Lake City, UT) – As part of its ongoing outreach efforts, the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) has extended the deadline for people who were affected by the March data breach to get identity protection.
Those whose Social Security Numbers were compromised by the breach of a state government computer server have until Sept. 30 to register for free credit monitoring services. So far, only about 20 percent have enrolled in the service.
“It’s very important that as many people as possible take the opportunity to protect themselves by signing up for credit monitoring,” said Utah’s Data Security Ombudsman, Sheila Walsh-McDonald. “It’s simple, it takes less than 10 minutes, and costs nothing to those whose Social Security numbers were breached.”
Those who aren’t sure if they were affected by the breach can still call the hotline at 1-855-238-3339. The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The hotline and credit monitoring are just part of the Department’s push to provide solutions to the as many as 780,000 people impacted by the breach earlier this year.
The UDOH and the Department of Technology Services have also completed internal reviews of data security policies, analyzed all state servers and conducted vulnerability assessments on them, and increased employee training.
For more information on the UDOH’s Data Breach Solution Center, call the hotline or visit the breach website at http://health.utah.gov/databreach/. The information there is available in both English and Spanish.
Media Contact:
Sheila Walsh-McDonald
Data Security Ombudsman
Office: 801-538-6923
Cell: 801-588-9370
