American Osteopathic Association Provides Notice of Data Security Incident

CHICAGO, Nov. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Osteopathic Association ("AOA") in Chicago, Illinois announced the actions that it has taken after becoming aware of unauthorized disclosure of certain member information. AOA has provided notice of this event to potentially impacted individuals, as well as certain regulatory agencies and authorities. 

What Happened? On June 25, 2020, AOA became aware of suspicious activity relating to certain information technology (IT) systems. Upon discovery, AOA worked with third party forensic investigators to investigate the nature and scope of the activity, and the AOA systems of interest. AOA determined that certain information within its systems was exfiltrated from its systems by an unauthorized actor. In response, AOA conducted a deliberate and thorough assessment of the information impacted during this event and to whom that information pertained. Like many businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted AOA's normal business operations. As a result, it has taken time for AOA to identify the names and addresses of potentially impacted individuals due to the pandemic's impact on our staff's working conditions, and their inability to be on location to identify all potentially impacted parties. On June 1, 2021, AOA confirmed the parties, and data impacted as a result of this event.

What Information Was Involved? While the specific information impacted varied from depending on the individual, AOA's investigation determined that at the time of the incident the impacted IT systems contained information including member names, and depending on the individual, Social Security number, financial account information, and email address/username and password.

What They Are Doing. The confidentiality, privacy, and security of personal information within AOA's care is among AOA's highest priorities. Upon learning of the event, AOA investigated to determine those individuals that were affected, and secured the compromised accounts. AOA has taken additional steps to improve security and better protect against similar incidents in the future.  In an abundance of caution, AOA has also notified potentially affected individuals, so that they may take further steps to best protect your personal information. Although AOA is unaware of any actual or attempted misuse of personal information as a result of this event, AOA has arranged to offer 12 months of identity protection services to impacted individuals at no cost as an added precaution.

What Potentially Affected Individuals Can Do. AOA encourages impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud. AOA also encourages impacted individuals to monitor free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors over the next 12 to 24 months.

SOURCE American Osteopathic Association