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When is three years of free credit monitoring still not enough?

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Dissent

How quickly times change.

It seems like only a few years ago that we thought it newsworthy that a breached entity would offer a year of free credit monitoring.

Then it became newsworthy when they offered two years.

Then it became newsworthy when they didn’t offer any free services.

Now some retirees in Delaware are claiming that even three years of free credit monitoring services is not enough and they want lifetime coverage.

In the aftermath of a breach in which the  Social Security Numbers, dates of birth and gender of 22,000 Delaware retirees were exposed on the state’s procurement site for four days in August, Aon Consulting originally offered one year of free services. It eventually upped its offer to three years. But even that is seemingly not enough for at least some of those affected, as J.L. Miller reports.

As I’ve previously commented, I do not agree, based on available information, that Aon Consulting should be shouldering all of the blame or costs  for this breach. But apart from that issue, what is the appropriate length of free services to offer in these situations? Does four days of having your data at risk warrant lifetime free services? I would have thought not, but it got me thinking about whether there might be circumstances under which some might think lifetime services are warranted. What do you think?

One positive thing that has come out of the Delaware breach, however, is that more people are now questioning the state’s use of their SSN:

When retired educator Wayne Emsley asked how many third parties have been given his Social Security number, and why the state couldn’t use an employee ID number instead, Visalli said her priority is getting the retirees signed up for credit monitoring, and that the state is reviewing its internal practices.

“I don’t feel that you’ve answered either of my questions,” Emsley said.

Hopefully, the state will answer those questions and other states will also ask themselves the same questions.

Category: Breach IncidentsCommentaries and AnalysesExposureGovernment SectorOf NoteSubcontractor

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