The Neurology Foundation, Inc. - Notice of Data Breach

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In late April 2017, The Neurology Foundation, Inc. (the "Foundation") learned that an employee had been making unauthorized purchases using a company credit card.  On May 3, 2017, during the employee's exit interview, the Foundation further learned that the employee had transferred certain Foundation data onto a hard drive that the employee was storing in the employee's home.  The storage of Foundation data on external media is not permitted by the Foundation and the Foundation has since recovered the hard drive.  Upon learning of this incident, the Foundation immediately launched an investigation, with the assistance of third-party forensic investigators, to determine the extent of the former employee's conduct.  During this investigation, on May 25, 2017, the Foundation determined that the former employee had, without authorization, transferred sensitive information onto his desktop, a hard drive, and several thumb drives.

The Foundation determined that the following information related to Foundation patients may have been contained on certain devices utilized by the former employee: name, address, phone number, email address, sex, race, data of birth, Social Security number, medical diagnoses, treatments and medications, insurance policy number, bank account number, and/or medical record number.  While the investigation is ongoing, to date, the Foundation does not currently have any evidence that the information was misused or attempted to be misused. 

The Foundation takes this incident and the security of personal information in its care very seriously.  In addition to hiring a third-party forensic expert to conduct an investigation, the employee has been terminated.  The Foundation also has notified, and is working with, local and federal law enforcement regarding this incident. 

The Foundation will be mailing notice letters to individuals for whom the Foundation has address information and the investigation has determined had information contained on certain devices utilized by the former employee.  Notice of this incident was delayed as a result of law enforcement's investigation.  The Foundation has provided potentially impacted individuals with access to 12 months of complimentary credit monitoring services. The Foundation encourages potentially impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud, to review account statements, and to monitor their credit reports and explanation of benefits forms for suspicious activity. The Foundation is providing potentially impacted individuals with contact information for the three major credit reporting agencies, as well as 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, and the Federal Trade Commission.  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. 

The Foundation has set up a call center to answer questions from those who might be impacted by this incident.  Anyone with additional questions may contact the call center at 1-855-865-4449 (toll free), Monday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. EDT.  Additional information on how potentially impacted individuals can protect themselves can also be found at the Foundation's website, http://www.theneurologyfoundation.org/.

SOURCE The Neurology Foundation, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.theneurologyfoundation.org