Well, thankfully (as far as I know) so far I've managed to avoid all the personal information/social security breaches, including all the credit card company leaks, OSU leaks, etc. But when the story broke last week of the backup tape with the personal information and social security numbers for all state employees and their dependents I figured it'd finally happened to me too.
I know several folks who have had their information compromised, and have been acquainted with some folks who have actually had their identities stolen. It can be a painful process getting everything cleaned up. Prevention & remediation plans are underway in pretty much every sector at this point to try and stem the tide, but it seems like there's still SO much to be done.
So anyways, the good news... I've been digging through all the news reports of this State leak since it first came out, and thankfully saw the news I was looking for today:
Read the full story here. Emphasis added by me (the good news in question).But the state has confirmed that the tape contains the names and Social Security numbers of all 64,467 non-university state employees. If they were enrolled in the state's pharmacy-benefits management program, their address and phone numbers also are included, as well as the names and Social Security numbers of 75,532 dependents.
So one more break. Don't know how long it'll last, but good news for me and many of my friends and family for now at least. If you were one of the state employees who WERE affected (or a family member of), I'm assuming you'll be getting a letter in the mail soon (if you haven't already), and I'd strongly recommend taking advantage of the ID protection services they're offering. See the State Employee Identity Protection website for more info.
