The Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office Provides Notice of Privacy Incident

SHREVEPORT, La., March 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office (the "Caddo DA") is providing notice of an incident that may affect the security of some information relating to certain individuals associated with the Caddo DA.  The confidentiality, privacy, and security of information in the Caddo DA's care is among its highest priorities and the Caddo DA takes this incident very seriously.  Please note, the Caddo DA has no indication that anyone's information has been subject to actual or attempted misuse in relation to this incident.

On or about October 25, 2021, the Caddo DA became aware of suspicious activity on its network and discovered that it could not access certain files and folders on its servers.  The Caddo DA immediately launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the incident.  The investigation determined that certain computers on the Caddo DA network had been infected by malware.  The investigation was unable to rule out unauthorized access to, or taking of, information stored on the Caddo DA network.  The Caddo DA has undertaken a lengthy and labor-intensive process to identify the information within the affected systems and address information associated with the potentially affected individuals.

The Caddo DA determined, through its investigation, that the information potentially at risk varies by individual and may include certain individuals' name, address and one or more of the following: date of birth; Social Security number; U.S. alien registration number; passport number; driver's license or state-issued identification number; military identification number; tax identification number; tribal identification number; non-U.S. national identification number; copy of birth or marriage certificate; IRS pin number; student identification number; employer identification number; financial account information; payment card information; system access information; biometric data; worker's compensation information; medical information; or health insurance information.

The Caddo DA has seen no indication that any information has been subject to actual or attempted misuse in relation to this incident.

The Caddo DA takes this incident and the security of personal information in its care very seriously.  Upon discovery of this incident, the Caddo DA immediately took steps to ensure the security of its systems and investigate the incident.  As part of its ongoing commitment to the privacy of information in its care, it is implementing additional technical security measures to strengthen the security of its systems.  The Caddo DA is also reviewing and enhancing its existing data privacy policies and procedures.  While unaware of misuse or any personal information, on March 15, 2022, the Caddo DA mailed notice letters to affected individuals for whom it had sufficient contact information.  In addition to notifying impacted individuals, the Caddo DA is also reporting to regulatory officials, as required.  As a precaution, the Caddo DA is also offering impacted individuals with credit monitoring services through Equifax at no cost.

The Caddo DA encourages impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud, to review their account statements, and to monitor their credit reports for suspicious activity.  The Caddo DA is providing potentially impacted individuals with contact information for the three major credit reporting agencies, as well as providing advice on how to obtain free credit reports and how to place fraud alerts and security freezes on their credit files.  The relevant contact information is below:

Potentially impacted individuals may also find information regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, security freezes, and the steps they may take to protect their information by contacting the credit bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission or their 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); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261.

Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement or the individual's state Attorney General.

The Caddo DA has established a dedicated call center for individuals to contact with questions or concerns or to determine if they are impacted.  This dedicated call center can be reached at 855-604-1778 Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM Eastern Time.

SOURCE The Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office