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told you during Foxon news at 4 today
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the Mobile County Health Department is
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talking about a security breach that
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could have an impact on some patients
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personal information and letters went
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out this month but the health department
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is not saying how many people might be
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affected here our Brendon Kirby has been
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following this story Brendan this dates
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back to the summer you say yeah that's
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right lenise and Cameron the Health
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Department's letter sites a June 6 date
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officials say they completed a cyber
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month the mile County Health Department
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discovered suspicious activity on its
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Network on June 6th according to letters
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sent to clients this month the
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department found quote unauthorized
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access to electronic files on that day
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the Health Department's letter states
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that it then determined which types of
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protected health information might have
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been compromised those include
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information such as names and patient
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identification numbers the letter
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stresses that it does not know for sure
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if any sensitive information was stolen
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while there is no evidence that your
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information has been misused we wanted
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to make you aware of this incident out
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of an abundance of caution the letter
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States William Oppenheimer president of
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a mobile-based cyber security company
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called enel tells me that cyber breaches
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are increasingly common there's a lot
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data there are a lot more opportunities
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to sell data the health department says
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it's taken steps to beef up the defenses
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including adding additional security
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tools and resetting account passwords
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Oppenheimer says you should deal only
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with reputable companies and you should
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take preventative measures like
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frequently changing your passwords but
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he adds organizations large and small
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aren't immune from data breaches it's a
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very serious problem nobody has a
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answer but some of the fundamentals
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data is a have a good secure
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firewall that's properly
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maintained this breach happened in June
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as we mentioned in the investigation
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wrapped up in October 22nd I tried to
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ask why the letters just now are going
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out but the health department says that
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it is not answering questions about this
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issue meanwhile the health department is
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recommending that people stay vigilant
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by reviewing their bank accounts and
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other financial statements for any
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questionable activity you can also check
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your information with any one of the
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three credit bureaus reporting live at
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the news center Brendan Kirby Fox 10
