The California Department of Social Services is in the process of notifying of the affected individuals, has posted information on its website; www.cdss.ca.gov, and established a toll free telephone number, (888) 362-8947 for individuals to obtain additional information.
SACRAMENTO – On Wednesday, May 9, 2012 the State Department of Social Services was informed by Hewlett Packard (HP), that part of a data shipment containing October to December 2011 payroll data for IHSS providers was missing. 701,000 individuals are potentially impacted. HP mailed the package through the U.S. Postal Service to the Riverside office of the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF).
The package containing the information was reported as damaged while being shipped by the U.S. Postal Service and the information contained in the package was incomplete upon delivery to the State Compensation Insurance Fund. The personal information included the IHSS provider’s name, Social Security number, case number, IHSS provider number, amount of wages for the period October through December 2011, and their IHSS Recipient’s State Employer Identification Number.
Approximately 701,000 In-Home Supportive Services providers and recipients are potentially impacted.
The California Department of Social Services is in the process of notifying of the affected individuals, has posted information on its website www.cdss.ca.gov, and established a toll free telephone number, (888) 362-8947 for individuals to obtain additional information.
CDSS has notified the three major U.S. credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) of the incident, as well as the California Highway Patrol, State Information Security Officer, and the Attorney General. Furthermore, the department is working with the appropriate state agencies and contractors to review policies regarding information security and determine the action necessary to prevent future incidents.
The department is recommending all In-Home Supportive Services providers place a fraud alert on their accounts with the three major U.S. credit reporting agencies, get copies of their credit reports and take other appropriate steps to monitor and protect their identities.
Additional steps to protect privacy are available at www.privacy.ca.gov.