DC Government Website Security Breach Exposes Nurses Personal Information Including SSN

Nurses just like Alexia Park can log onto the DC Department of Health's website and renew their license. Weeks later the Department of Health sent this letter to 600 nurses who recently renewed their license thru the website. It mentions a security incident and personal information went public. The I-Team did some digging and discovered the DC Health Department's website wasn't hacked. The security breach was done by one nurse who was a registered user who accessed a part of the system that the District didn't expect anyone to be able to view. Private information involving seven nurses was accessed. 5,000,000 insurance reimbursement policy. Park is asking for 10 years of protection.

Credit monitoring companies provide basic updates to you about changes in your credit. Depending on the company hired and the specific program they offer will determine how you are updated and what information they will give you. Some companies only provide you with info about 1 credit reporting agency. Since there are 3 credit reporting agencies Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax this is just a piece of the information needed to really monitor your credit profile.

One of the risks you take when hiring a monitoring service, that provides you with only one report update, is not being able to see if a collection is reported on all bureaus. Many smaller creditor's like Verizon,Doctors,Dentists, and Health Clubs don't want to pay the credit reporting agencies to provide each credit profile with this collection info since they will have to pay 3 times for this service.

The result is they typically pay one reporting agency instead of all three and only put the collection on that one credit report. If you have picked the report that isn't updated you will not be aware of this problem until all three reports are pulled. In this case the whole point of monitoring your credit will be lost. When a monitoring service only alerts you that a change has occurred and does not tell you what the details of the change are we find consumers in a panic.

They now know there is a change but don't have any idea what changed. You can be updated of an alert when a 3rd party pulls your credit profile if you are shopping for a car, home, or business loan. You may be updated with an alert when you open or close an account or have a new late payment. Alerts come when balances change as well.

If you don't have details on what the alert is you will be in a continual state of panic. Credit is not stagnant and with so many changes happening daily these alerts could come all the time, daily, weekly, or monthly depending on how active your credit profile is. You can see there is much homework to do when deciding on a monitoring service. If you are highly educated about your credit and monitoring services it could be helpful for keeping you aware of the general picture of your credit portfolio.

If you are uneducated or don't have the time to keep track of your current credit situation it could be a source of continual anxiety and frustration. Education is the key to staying updated on your credit and its significance to your financial life. There are other ways to protect yourself against identity theft and credit card fraud and we will address them in this 2 part series.

If you've eaten at Chili's restaurants within the past two months, then you might want to check your credit report and card statements. Chili's parent company Brinker International announced over the weekend that customers' payment information was exposed in a recent malware attack. Brinker did not disclose how hackers gained unauthorized access to its systems, how many customers or restaurants were targeted, or the exact dates when the personal data may have been exposed.

Brinker said in a statement Saturday. Brinker said that Chili's does not collect social security numbers, dates of birth or state identification numbers full date of birth, so that data was not compromised. The Dallas-based company is the latest restaurant to disclose a data breach. Last month Panera Bread acknowledged that data of some customers including names, addresses and the last four digits of credit card numbers were vulnerable on its website for at least eight months. And earlier this year Applebee's found malware on its payment systems in 167 locations across 15 states, potentially exposing customer credit card data.

The barrage of data breaches at restaurants and other businesses highlights the heightened risks of identity theft, and the continued vulnerabilities presented by payment systems, databases of customer information, and mobile apps. Brinker said it first learned of the breach on Friday, the same day it first disclosed the breach. The company said it has notified law enforcement agencies and is working with independent experts to investigate and determine which customers were affected.