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Hospital Data Breach

July 31, 2008 – 4:53 pm

Most of us see hospitals as safe places, but identity thieves see them as treasure troves. In a recent incident, the identities of over 970,000 people who had visited the Baptist Health Hospital in Arkansas were compromised. A former employee, had taken screenshots of the personal data and printed it out for later use. The breach was so great that the US government has mounted an investigation into the incident.

Tamara Hill and Ebony Flowers used this information to fraudulently attain Wal-Mart gift cards in the names of the patients. They had done this over 30 times before they were caught and convicted on July 6^th. There is no word as to whether the information was given to other entities or simply kept between the thieves. It could easily be used to steal millions of dollars from the unsuspecting victims.

As with many incidents of identity theft, the victims were completely unaware that their identities had been compromised. This is one reason Lifelock can be so valuable. Life lock keeps a constant watch on your identity and notifies you immediately when it happens. It also works hard to repair the breach and restore your good name.

Tags: Data Breach, Health Care Data Breach, Life Lock, LifeLock