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Some 4.5 million people are expected to be affected by the attack that leaked patients' names, social security numbers, birth dates, phone numbers and home address, as as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The company said people who received services from physicians affiliated network over the past five years are affected. The hospital network operates more than 200 medical centers in 28 states, according to its website.
How the violation does not occur?
With the help of experts in cybersecurity, hospital network in China determined hackers used sophisticated malware to launch attacks last spring. The FBI is now working with community health systems "target, disrupt, dismantle and arrest the perpetrators," according to CNN.
What can I do to protect myself?
It is important to know for sure if you have received treatment from one of the medical centers of the community health system over the past five years because you were exposed in the breach. to see if you were a patient, you should look at affiliate back to all medical documentation you have for the last five years. While the company said it would notify affected patients, it never hurts to double check for yourself. in addition, it is important for you to take proactive steps so you can protect your personal information on your own
1. Monitor your credit report. Although no credit card information or debit was stolen in the breach, it is possible for hackers to open new credit accounts with personal information stolen from the cyber attack. That is why it is essential for you to check your credit reports to make sure there are no unknown information. The government offers an annual free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com, however that will not protect you if something is added to your reports after check. Instead, you should consider signing up for a credit report monitoring service that will give you your reports and your credit scores as well as to monitor the activity and alert you when updates are made to a reports. And if you notice any irregularities on your report, like credit cards or loans that you do not recognize, these services provide all the information you need to report potential fraud and help you through the fraud -reporting process.
2. Consider the identity theft protection: Since this personal information was exposed in the breach, you are more likely to not be a victim of fraud on your credit report but also at risk of having your identity stolen. If you want to take additional steps to protect your identity, you should consider signing up for identity theft protection. These services monitor the use of your personal information - including your name, credit card and debit information and social security number - on the black market of the Internet and public folders to ensure that it is not sold, traded or used by identity thieves. In addition, these services like Identity Guard top-rated, also include the monitoring report credit, which means you'll also have updates active at any time something is added or changed on your credit reports . And the best part about protective services against identity theft is most services offer free trials, which means that you can test the service before making a financial commitment.
Discover identity theft protection reviews to see which service will best suit your needs and learn more about identity theft.