Scam of the day – December 23, 2024 – Ascension Data Breach Affects More Than 5 Million People

by | Dec 22, 2024 | Scam of the day

Data breaches are all too common and according to a 2023 report by IBM, healthcare companies account for approximately 27% of all data breaches.  Healthcare companies are targeted for a number of reasons including the general lack of security of many healthcare companies and the extensive personal and medical information they store including health insurance information that can be sold by criminals on the dark web for large prices enabling other people to access your health insurance.  Having your health insurance policy used by an identity thief is particularly dangerous because it can result in your medical records being corrupted by the medical information of the identity thief and the difficulty in getting this information removed from your medical records.  Having the medical information of an identity thief on your medical records could even result in your getting a blood transfusion of the wrong blood type.

Recently Ascension, a healthcare company that operates 140 hospital and 40 senior care facilities accross the United States disclosed that it had suffered a data breach affecting 5,599,699 of its patients and employees.  The compromised information varies depending on the individual, but includes medical information, credit card information, bank account numbers, medical insurance information, Social Security numbers and other personal information which provides a treasure trove for scammers and identity thieves.  Ascension is notifying victims of the data breach by mail starting this week and are offering 24 months of identity theft protection services.

Ascension was hacked through a social engineering email from a ransomware gang that lured an employee of Ascension to download malware that enabled the hacker to steal Ascension’s data.ascensio

TIPS

Victims of this data breach should  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:

Everyone also should monitor their credit reports regularly for indications of identity theft.  The three major credit reporting agencies now provide free weekly access to your credit reports so you can monitor your credit reports easily on your own.  Here is the only link to use to get your free credit reports.https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
Some scammers have websites that appear to offer “free” credit reports, but if you read the fine print, you often may find that you have signed up for unnecessary services.
Finally, be wary of anyone who calls you purporting to help you in regard to the data breach who  asks for personal information in regard to this data breach as that is a favorite tactic of hackers to lure you into providing additional personal information that can lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.  Also, as always, never click on a link or download an attachment to an email or text message unless you have absolutely confirmed that it is legitimate and don’t provide personal information in response to an email, text message or phone call unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication was legitimate.

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