HMO accidentally exposed personal information of about 75,000
A CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield dental HMO accidentally exposed personal information, including Social Security numbers, of about 75,000 members on a public Web site last month and didn't notify them until about three weeks later.
The Dental Network, which is owned by CareFirst, informed the members - mostly Maryland and District of Columbia residents - that their names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers had been posted on its Web site for two weeks in February because of a technical error.
The company says that to its knowledge, no one has misused the information. But it says "the risk ... should be taken seriously" and has offered members 12 months of free credit monitoring, as well as information about contacting the three credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on their account.
