A data breach at insurer Delta Dental has exposed more than 800,000 records, including employee information at Coca-Cola, Etsy and PayPal, a cybersecurity firm reports.
Information on around 802,400 records of home addresses, insurance providers, hospital names, degrees, phone numbers and names began circulating on Dec. 4, cybersecurity firm Atlas Privacy said.
Delta Delta insurance customers can check if their information was exposed at Atlas Privacy's Databreach.com website.
The information appeared on large data breach forums and was posted for free, but it is possible it was circulating earlier in other parts of the dark web, Atlas Privacy co-founder Zack Ganot told ConsumerAffairs.
Delta Dental previously said it was exposed by the file transfer MoveIt, which has exposed more than a thousand organizations recently.
Delta Dental, Coca-Cola, Etsy and PayPal didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from ConsumerAffairs.
What to do after a data breach
- Follow the letter: Companies should send out a letter if you are a victim of a data breach. Read it carefully to get more details about what data was exposed and the steps the company recommends you take.
- Freeze your credit: Contact each of the three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and get your credit frozen so a criminal can’t open cards or other lines in your name.
- Credit monitoring: Sometimes, companies will offer free credit monitoring or other services after a data breach.
- Reset passwords: Change your passwords and use different ones for services.
- Use a password manager: LastPass and services built into web browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge can create and store strong passwords for you.
- Opt out of data collection: If you have the right in your state, you can email services you use to request they don’t collect your data for the use by third parties.
- Request to have your data deleted: For services you don’t use, ask to have your data deleted. California and other states have written this into law.