Notify Individuals
Notify individuals. If you quickly notify people
that their personal information has been compromised, they can take
steps to reduce the chance that their information will be misused. In
deciding who to notify, and how, consider:
- the nature of the compromise
- the type of information taken
- the likelihood of misuse
- the potential damage if the information is misused
For example, thieves who have stolen names and Social Security
numbers can use that information not only to sign up for new accounts in
the victim’s name, but also to commit tax identity theft. People who
are notified early can take steps to limit the damage.
When notifying individuals, the FTC recommends you:
- Consult with your law enforcement contact about the timing of the notification so it doesn’t impede the investigation.
- Designate a point person within your organization for releasing information. Give the contact person the latest information about the breach, your response, and how individuals should respond.
- Consider using letters (see sample below), websites, and toll-free numbers
to communicate with people whose information may have been compromised.
If you don’t have contact information for all of the affected
individuals, you can build an extensive public relations campaign into
your communications plan, including press releases or other news media
notification.
- Consider offering at least a year of free credit monitoring or other support
such as identity theft protection or identity restoration services,
particularly if financial information or Social Security numbers were
exposed. When such information is exposed, thieves may use it to open
new accounts.
State breach notification laws typically tell you what
information you must, or must not, provide in your breach notice. In
general, unless your state law says otherwise, you’ll want to:
- Clearly describe what you know about the compromise. Include:
- how it happened
- what information was taken
- how the thieves have used the information (if you know)
- what actions you have taken to remedy the situation
- what actions you are taking to protect individuals, such as offering free credit monitoring services
- how to reach the relevant contacts in your organization
Consult with your law enforcement contact about what information to include so your notice doesn’t hamper the investigation.
Tell people what steps they can take, given the type of information exposed, and provide relevant contact information.
For example, people whose Social Security numbers have been stolen
should contact the credit bureaus to ask that fraud alerts or credit
freezes be placed on their credit reports. See IdentityTheft.gov/databreach
for information on appropriate follow-up steps after a compromise,
depending on the type of personal information that was exposed. Consider
adding this information as an attachment to your breach notification
letter, as we’ve done in the model letter below.
Include current information about how to recover from identity theft. For a list of recovery steps, refer consumers to IdentityTheft.gov.
Consider providing information about the law enforcement
agency working on the case, if the law enforcement agency agrees that
would help. Identity theft victims often can provide important information to law enforcement.
Encourage people who discover that their information has been misused to report it to the FTC, using IdentityTheft.gov. IdentityTheft.gov
will create an individualized recovery plan, based on the type of
information exposed. And, each report is entered into the Consumer
Sentinel Network, a secure, online database available to civil and
criminal law enforcement agencies.
Describe how you’ll contact consumers in the future.
For example, if you’ll only contact consumers by mail, then say so. If
you won’t ever call them about the breach, then let them know. This
information may help victims avoid phishing scams tied to the breach,
while also helping to protect your company’s reputation. Some
organizations tell consumers that updates will be posted on their
website. This gives consumers a place they can go at any time to see the
latest information.
| If a breach of unsecured protected health information occurs at or by a business associate, the business associate must notify the covered entity following the discovery of the breach. A business associate must provide notice to the covered entity without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days from the discovery of the breach. To the extent possible, the business associate should provide the covered entity with the identification of each individual affected by the breach as well as any other available information required to be provided by the covered entity in its notification to affected individuals. ...read more |
| Think about service providers. If service providers were involved, examine what personal information they can access and decide if you need to change their access privileges. Also, ensure your service providers are taking the necessary steps to make sure another breach does not occur. If your service providers say they have remedied vulnerabilities, verify that they really fixed things. Check your network segmentation. When you set up your network, you likely segmented it so that a breach on one server or in one site could not lead to a breach on another server or site. Work with your forensics experts to analyze whether your segmentation plan was effective in containing the breach. If you need to make any changes, do so now. Work with your forensics experts. Find out if measures such as encryption were enabled when the breach happened. Analyze backup or preserved data. Review logs to determine ...read more |
| Protected health information (PHI) is rendered unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals if one or more of the following applies: Electronic PHI has been encrypted as specified in the HIPAA Security Rule by “the use of an algorithmic process to transform data into a form in which there is a low probability of assigning meaning without use of a confidential process or key” (45 CFR 164.304 definition of encryption) and such confidential process or key that might enable decryption has not been breached. To avoid a breach of the confidential process or key, these decryption tools should be stored on a device or at a location separate from the data they are used to encrypt or decrypt. The encryption processes identified below have been tested by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and judged to meet this standard. Valid encryption processes for data at rest are ...read more |
| A breach is, generally, an impermissible use or disclosure under the Privacy Rule that compromises the security or privacy of the protected health information. An impermissible use or disclosure of protected health information is presumed to be a breach unless the covered entity or business associate, as applicable, demonstrates that there is a low probability that the protected health information has been compromised based on a risk assessment of at least the following factors: The nature and extent of the protected health information involved, including the types of identifiers and the likelihood of re-identification;The unauthorized person who used the protected health information or to whom the disclosure was made;Whether the protected health information was actually acquired or viewed; andThe extent to which the risk to the protected health information has been mitigated.Covered entities and business associates, where applicable, have discretion to provide the required breach notifications following an impermissible ...read more |
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