Data theft touches 150,000 Massachusetts seniors
The state of Massachusetts is warning 150,000 members of its Prescription Advantage insurance program that their personal information may have been snatched by an identity thief. Local authorities arrested a lone identity thief in August who had been using information taken from the program in an attempted identity theft scheme, said Alison Goodwin, a spokeswoman for the state's Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
Goodwin could not add many details on the nature of the breach, citing an ongoing criminal investigation, but she said Prescription Advantage is conducting an internal review of the incident to determine if additional security measures might be required. Prescription Advantage is a state-run program that offers drug insurance to seniors in Massachusetts. The data breach did not affect all members of the program, Goodwin said.
