Cap’n Ken’s Homespun Wisdom

I got a notice yesterday from Helio, my former wireless carrier through my former employer, that I am among a group of their subscribers whose personal information may have been breached and that I’m in danger of identify theft because of it.

We are writing to you because of a recent compromise in security. Helio has discovered that restricted data containing certain personal information was accessed through illegal means.

We regret to inform you that your name is among those that may have been compromised. While we are uncertain whether your personal information was actually obtained, we know that the individual(s) responsible sought and retrieved some personal information, including customer names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers (last four digits).

Helio has taken steps to secure this data by limiting access to this information, resetting passwords and implementing new procedures to protect this information. In addition, Helio has notified the appropriate law enforcement agencies and an investigation is being conducted.

Just swell. So now I need to contact the credit bureaus, put a fraud alert on my account, check my credit records and monitor my credit for the next year or so. Is it so freaking hard to keep customer information under wraps?

And thanks, Helio, for taking “steps to secure this data” - after the breach.