Notice of Data Breach from Bay Area Children's Association

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The following letter is from The Bay Area Children's Association:

To the Patients and Guarantors of Bay Area Children's Association:

On April 1, 2016, we received notice from our electronic medical record provider that some of our patient records were acquired by unauthorized persons.  Specifically, they determined that cyber intruders may have installed malware on their system in January 2015 and, through credential theft, accessed certain systems in their environment.  We immediately requested further information to identify which of our patients were affected and on April 22, 2016, we were informed that such information could not be confirmed.  Though we do not have confirmation that your records were compromised, we wanted to notify everyone whose records were on the affected system. 

Though there is no evidence of fraudulent use, we have been informed that the information accessed by unauthorized individuals may have included your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, social security number, and medical insurance information if provided to us.  Further, BACA health visit information may have also been exposed.

Please be assured that we take this matter seriously. Immediately upon notice that our patient records were accessed by a cyber intruder and who was affected, we are notifying you of the breach, and are providing complimentary credit monitoring for one year.  Further, we have been assured that our electronic record provider has thoroughly investigated the matter and has done everything it can to hardened its firewall and network configurations.  Lastly, we have been informed that the FBI and Secret Service have been investigating this matter for several months and that the U.S. Attorney's Office is involved in the investigation of the potential perpetrators. 

Given the breadth of information potentially exposed, we strongly recommend you call the three credit bureaus and place a 90 day fraud alert on your accounts.  Their contact information is:  Equifax (1-888-766-0008; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374), Experian (1-888-397-3742; P.O. Box 4500, Allen, TX 75013), and TransUnion (800-680-7289; P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022-2000).  You are also entitled to a free credit report every year from these agencies at www.annualcreditreport.com. Additionally, we will provide affected patients and their guarantors with complimentary identity theft protection for 1 year through AllClear ID.

Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.  We understand how important confidentiality and trust is to our physician-patient relationship. Please contact 1-855-904-5767 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time, Monday - Friday) or 1175 Saratoga Avenue Suite 14, San Jose, CA 95129 if you believe you have been impacted by this incident. 

SOURCE The Bay Area Children's Association