Chelan Douglas Health District Warning Residents of 2021 Data Breach

The Chelan Douglas Health District is warning the public of a data breach that may have led to the loss of identifiable personal and health information.

The district said the hack occurred in early July of last year, with cybersecurity consultants finishing a review of the breach February 12th and the district providing a link to a statement about the hack at the bottom of their website Tuesday.

Administrator Luke Davies said the district took a little over a month to get word of the breach out to the community because it first had to consult with legal counsel and also draft a public notice.

"A lot of times these investigations can take up to two to three years." Davies said, "We were able to turn around and get ours done within six or seven months."

Davies added that they will soon send letters to the last known addresses of people that were potentially affected, although he declined to disclose how many people could have been compromised.

Data such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth or death, financial account information and medical data like treatment information, medical records, patient numbers and health insurance policy information was removed from their site in the breach.

The Chelan Douglas Health District is advising victims of any data breach to take several steps to protect themselves.

Things affected people can do include enrolling in a complimentary credit monitoring service if their Social Security number was impacted, placing a fraud alert or security freeze on their credit files and taking steps to safeguard against medical identity theft.

Potential victims are also advised to monitor their credit report and financial statements for any suspicious activity or changes.

The health district is providing a hotline for those that may have been impacted by last July's data breach. Those with questions can call (844) 626-1280 Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Eastern Time.