(Salt
Lake City, UT) – The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) will provide another year
of free credit monitoring services for Utahns who were affected by the March
2012 data breach.
The
extension is automatic and those who are already enrolled in the Experian
credit monitoring service provided by the State will not need to take any
action to ensure it continues.
Many
breach victims who signed up for the fraud protection in April and May of last
year are currently receiving notices that their service will expire and that
there is a cost to renew. These individuals should ignore these expiration
notices, as no further action is needed on their part.
“The
renewal notices are occurring automatically on the one-year anniversary date of
the notification process to the breach victims,” said Sheila Walsh-McDonald,
Utah Data Security Ombudsman. “Any breach victim who has already paid Experian
for the renewal should contact me by phone or e-mail so that we can be sure it
is addressed.”
Experian
is currently notifying all breach victims about the credit monitoring
extension. Those who receive their communications by e-mail from Protect MyID
or Family Secure should have received their notification on April 8, 2013. For
enrollees who receive their communications by U.S. Postal Service, the
postcards were mailed on April 11, 2013.
In
addition, victims who were unable to sign up for credit monitoring services
before last year’s initial deadline now have a second chance to enroll. Of the
280,000 people whose Social Security numbers were stolen, approximately 59,500
have enrolled to date.
Governor
Gary Herbert and the Utah State Legislature authorized the additional year of
credit monitoring in response to numerous requests from breach victims.
“I
have spoken to thousands of victims and their most common request was that the
credit monitoring needed to be longer than just one year,” said Walsh-McDonald.
“I am pleased Governor Herbert and the Utah State Legislature were responsive
to the breach victims’ request for an extension.”
For
more information on the data breach or to sign up for credit monitoring, call
or e-mail the ombudsman at 801-538-6923 or ombudsman@utah.gov. For more information, visit http://health.utah.gov/databreach/,
available in both English and Spanish.
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Media Contact:
Sheila
Walsh-McDonald
Data
Security Ombudsman
(o)
801-538-6923
(m)
801-588-9370
