Insurer Accidentally Posts Physicians’ Social Security Numbers on Web
Health insurer Health Net Federal Services (HNFS) has notified some Pennsylvania physicians that their Social Security numbers were posted on the Internet for about two months, the company said Feb. 28, 2008.
HNFS learned about the mistake, which it said was caused partly by human error and software, in December. There is no indication the personal information was misused, said the government contractor, which provides health insurance for nearly 3 million military families and veterans in 23 states.
HNFS will pay for a year's worth of credit monitoring for the more than 100,000 doctors from the 11 affected states—Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
The memory file with the physicians’ Social Security numbers was reached with an advanced Google search, and the person who did it reported it to the company, HNFS said. Data could not be seen on the HNFS website.
The flaw has since been fixed, and new security measures tested by outside experts were found to be sound. HNFS also is considering no longer using providers' Social Security numbers.
Last Updated: 3/4/2008