14 DAY TRIAL // Not very long ago, there was a lawsuit that had Google on the seat of the accused, over a very complicated, yet very plain issue. The plaintiff claimed that he was in danger of being a victim of identity theft because the name of the Mountain View-based company was actually his Social Security number looked at upside down. There was quite a fuss about it, among other charges thrown in Google's face because of that I could find 'crimes against humanity.' The case was dismissed by a court.
The doctors of Marshfield Clinic and some others in 11 states have also had a pretty serious problem with the Social Security numbers, as they somehow found their way to the Internet, and were available after a Google search. The risk of identity theft was definitely there, a spokesperson for HNFS, the company responsible for the personal information, said.
The information was available on the Health Net Federal Services of Rancho Cordova, California's site, and it remained online throughout the entire November 2007 - January 6th, 2008, Doug Reding, the vice president of Marshfield Clinic and oncologist at the same health institution, said. "There is an 800 number to call to find out whether your number was one of the ones breached. I called, and mine was," the good doctor told the Associated Press.
All that remains to be done, in order to find out whether somebody has accessed the information and plans on using it, is to monitor the numbers, and the HNFS said that it would cover the bill for that in the following year, Molly Tuttle, spokeswoman of the company, said.
The cause of the leak is "part human error" and "part of our software," as she explained. HNFS is responsible for the information of 3 million military families and veterans in 23 states.