Pacific Specialty Insurance Company Provides Notice of Data Security Incident

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Specialty Insurance Company ("Pacific Specialty") is taking action after discovering that it became the target of a phishing email campaign that compromised several employee email account credentials. 

What Happened?  On June 14, 2019 Pacific Specialty became aware of suspicious activity in employee email accounts.  It immediately began an investigation to determine what happened and what information may have been affected.  With the assistance of third-party forensic investigators, it was determined that certain employee email accounts were subject to unauthorized access between March 20, 2019 and March 30, 2019.  Every potentially accessible file within the impacted accounts was reviewed to determine what files may have been accessible to the unauthorized actor. On November 7, 2019 Pacific Specialty became aware of the identities of the individuals whose information was included in the impacted accounts. It continued working to obtain contact information for impacted individuals through January 14, 2020.

What Information Was Involved? The types of information contained within the potentially impacted emails varied by individual but include:  an individual's name, Social Security number, driver's license and/or government issued identification, financial information, payment card information, medical information, and health insurance information.

What is Pacific Specialty Doing in Response to this Incident?  Pacific Specialty is committed to, and takes very seriously, its responsibility to protect all data in its possession.  Pacific Specialty is continuously taking steps to enhance data security protections.  As part of its incident response, it changed the log-in credentials for all employee email accounts to prevent further unauthorized access.  Since then, it has continued ongoing efforts to enhance security controls, such as enabling multifactor authentication, and implemented additional controls to help protect employee email accounts from unauthorized access.  

In an abundance of caution, Pacific Specialty is offering 12 months of complimentary credit monitoring to potentially affected individuals so that they may take further steps to best protect their personal information, should they feel it is appropriate to do so.  On January 24, 2020, Pacific Specialty also began mailing notice letters to individuals whose information was contained within the impacted accounts and for whom it had a postal address. 

For More Information. Pacific Specialty established a dedicated assistance line for individuals seeking additional information regarding this incident. If you believe you were impacted by this incident, you can call 833-991-1528 Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM (Central).

What Individuals Can Do. Individuals may contact the dedicated assistance line, or visit Pacific Specialty's website at www.pacificspecialty.com to learn more about steps they can take in response to this incident. 

Monitor Your Accounts

Pacific Specialty encourages potentially impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud, to review your account statements, and to monitor your credit reports for suspicious activity.  Under U.S. law you are entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus.  To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or the three major credit reporting bureaus.  To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or all, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228.  You may also contact the three major credit bureaus directly to request a free copy of your credit report.

You have the right to place a "security freeze" on your credit report, which will prohibit a consumer reporting agency from releasing information in your credit report without your express authorization.  The security freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent.  However, you should be aware that using a security freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in your credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit.  Pursuant to federal law, you cannot be charged to place or lift a security freeze on your credit report.  Should you wish to place a security freeze, please contact the major consumer reporting agencies listed below:

As an alternative to a security freeze, you have the right to place an initial or extended "fraud alert" on your file at no cost.  An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer's credit file.  Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer's credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer's identity before extending new credit.  If you are a victim of identity theft, you are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years.  Should you wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any one of the agencies listed below:

Although we have no reason to believe that your personal information has been used to file fraudulent tax returns, you can contact the IRS at www.irs.gov/Individuals/Identity-Protection for helpful information and guidance on steps you can take to address a fraudulent tax return filed in your name and what to do if you become the victim of such fraud.  You can also visit www.irs.gov/uac/Taxpayer-Guide-to-Identity-Theft for more information.

You can further educate yourself regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, security freezes, and the steps you can take to protect yourself, by contacting the consumer reporting agencies, the Federal Trade Commission, or your state Attorney General. 

The Federal Trade Commission can be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580, www.identitytheft.gov, 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. You can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. You have the right to file a police report if you ever experience identity theft or fraud.  Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, you will likely need to provide some proof that you have been a victim.  Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement.  This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.      

For New York residents, the New York Attorney General provides resources regarding identity theft protection and security breach response at www.ag.ny.gov/internet/privacy-and-identity-theft. The New York Attorney General can be contacted by phone at 1-800-771-7755, toll-free at 1-800-788-9898, and online at www.ag.ny.gov.

For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001, 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6400, www.ncdoj.gov.

For Maryland residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202, 1-888-743-0023, www.oag.state.md.us.

For New Mexico residents, you have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in your credit file has been used against you, the right to know what is in your credit file, the right to ask for your credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting agencies must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to your file is limited; you must give your consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; you may limit "prescreened" offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report; and you may seek damages from violators. You may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage you to review your rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

SOURCE Pacific Specialty Insurance Company