A California-based chiropractic office, Vibrant Body Wellness suffered data breach after its facility was burgled. The incident affected around 600 patients. According to the reports, laptop and hard drive was stolen. It contained health related data.
Vibrant Body Wellness published the statement as –
“We were robbed! Literally.Yes, it’s sad but true — our office at Vibrant Body Wellness was broken into during the weekend of March 5th to March 8th. Things were stolen and no one was physically injured. We are grateful for that, and have been sorting through the violation and the lessons over the past month. The support and well wishes from our practice members and from our community members has been heartening, so thank you for reaching out and for your patience as we replace equipment and update security procedures.”
Affected information included names, addresses, dates of birth, contact information, diagnoses, and billing information. The laptop was password-protected. Also, the patient information on the hard drive was encrypted.
Local law enforcement officials were notified about the incident. As per the statement, notification letters are sent to affected individuals. They are also encouraged to place a fraud alert on their credit accounts. The practice believes that the information is not being misused or inappropriately accessed.
“We understand that this may pose an inconvenience to you. We sincerely apologize and regret that this situation has occurred,” wrote the owner of the practice, Teresa Lau, DC, in a letter to affected patients. “Vibrant Body Wellness is committed to providing quality care, including protecting your personal information, and we want to assure you that we have policies and procedures to protect your privacy.”
Facility also provided information for placing initial fraud alert, “We are keenly aware of how important your personal information is to you. You may place an initial fraud alert on your own credit account with Equifax, who will notify the other two credit bureaus. The fraud alert does not impact your credit score and provides an extra layer of protection–creditors must contact you directly before issuing credit in your name. The initial fraud alert lasts for 90 days, is free, and can be renewed for free after 90 days.”
Alertsec is the full disk encryption service that delivers a mobile data protection system for all information stored on laptops used throughout your organization