RE: Dental Center of Northwest Ohio, Notice of Data Privacy Event

TOLEDO, Ohio, Dec. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dental Center of Northwest Ohio (the "Dental Center") is providing notice to current and former patients and employees of a recent incident involving personal information. To date, the Dental Center has not received any reports that personal information has been misused as a result of this incident.

On or about September 1, 2018, the Dental Center's IT vendor, Arakyta, made the Dental Center aware of an issue, at Arakyta, potentially impacting certain Dental Center systems. Arakyta later confirmed ransomware had infected Arakyta systems resulting in a disruption to systems storing Dental Center information. The Dental Center immediately launched an investigation into the nature and scope of incident, including working with third-party computer experts to determine what, if any, Dental Center information was impacted by the Arakyta event.  Based on the information provided by Arakyta, on November 7, 2018, the Dental Center confirmed that systems containing Dental Center information were potentially accessible to an unknown actor.  Although the Dental Center has not received reports of actual access to Dental Center information as a result of the Arakyta event, because the Dental Center was unable to rule out the possibility of such access, the Dental Center is notifying individuals whose information was stored on systems potentially impacted by the Arakyta event.  While the information potentially affected by this incident varies by individual, the investigation confirmed that the following types of personal information were stored in systems disrupted by the Arakyta event: name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, state identification number, driver's license number, medical treatment and history, diagnosis and clinical treatment information, medical record and patient number, health insurance and benefit information, and financial account information.

The Dental Center takes the confidentiality, privacy, and security of information in its care very seriously.  Upon learning of the Arakyta event, the Dental Center immediately commenced an investigation to confirm the nature and scope of the event as it relates to the Dental Center and its data. The Dental Center took steps to identify the personal information stored on systems disrupted by the Arakyta event and is notifying potentially impacted Dental Center patients and employees. The Dental Center is also providing access to credit monitoring and identity theft restoration services to potentially impacted Dental Center patients and employees, at no cost to these individuals.  While the Dental Center has security measures in place to protect information in its care, it is taking steps to implement additional safeguards and review policies and procedures relating to data privacy and security. The Data Center is also notifying relevant regulators of the Arakyta event. 

Potentially impacted individuals may enroll in the credit monitoring and identity theft protections services that are being offered by the Dental Center.  In addition to enrolling in these services, the Dental Center encourages potentially impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud, to review account statements and explanation of benefits, and to monitor credit reports for suspicious activity.  Information on obtaining a free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus may be found at www.annualcreditreport.com, calling 877-322-8228, or contacting the three major credit bureaus directly at: Equifax, P.O. Box 105069, Atlanta, GA, 30348, 800-525-6285, www.equifax.com; Experian, P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013, 888-397-3742, www.experian.com; TransUnion, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016, 800-680-7289, www.transunion.com. 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 Dental Center will be providing notice of this incident to relevant regulators. 

Individuals with questions regarding this event may call the Dental Center's call center at 1-866-494-7707, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Eastern Time. 

SOURCE Dental Center of Northwest Ohio