Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has filed a lawsuit against Health Net for HIPPA violations in the wake of a data breach. Last May, Health Net discovered that a portable disk drive containing confidential health information, Social Security numbers, and bank account numbers of nearly half a million past and present enrollees had disappeared. The data was not encrypted, and the company did not begin notifying those whose data had been compromised until November 30.
Blumenthal is civil penalties, which are limited to a maximum of $1.5 million per year, as well as a court order that would require Health Net to encrypt any personal health information contained on a portable electronic device. In a written statement, Blumenthal said, "The staggering scope of the data loss, and deliberate delay in disclosure, are legally actionable and ethically unacceptable. Even more alarming than the breach, Health Net downplayed and dismissed the danger to patients and consumers."
Health Net has offered two years of free credit monitoring and $1 million of identity theft insurance to affected members, and has promised additional assistance to anyone who does become an identity theft victim as a result of the breach.
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