South Texas Oncology and Hematology, a cancer treatment facility recently reported that it had suffered a data breach in which sensitive information including patients’ names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and medical information of 170,000 of its patients was stolen.  This information, particularly Social Security numbers can easily lead to identity theft.  Health care facilities are particular targets of cybercriminals and identity thieves because they collect much sensitive personal information and have proven to be relatively easily hacked.   As of March 2024 there already have been 116 reported health care facility data breaches affecting 13 million people.  One thing this data breach illustrates is that you should not give your Social Security number to medical care providers.  They have no need for it and their lack of proper security puts you at risk of identity theft if you do provide it to them.

TIPS

As for the victims of this data breach, the first thing they should do is freeze their credit if they have not already done so.  Freezing your credit is actually something everyone should do.  It is free and easy to do.  In addition, it protects you from someone using your identity to obtain loans or make large purchases even if they have your Social Security number.  If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at all of the major credit reporting agencies.  Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/