In response to the HealthNet settlement announced today by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, George Jepsen, candidate for Attorney General, pledged while in office to exercise continued vigilance in protecting consumers from identity theft and increased protection of confidential consumer information collected by businesses.
“This settlement underscores the importance of Connecticut having an Attorney General who will be vigilant in protecting the rights and needs of consumers,” stated Jepsen. “This information is money in the hands of unscrupulous individuals and represents an egregious invasion of privacy.”
Since 2005, over 350 million consumer records containing sensitive personal information have been breached according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. In 2009, there were at least 480 reported instances of data breaches, according to the Data Loss Database, compiled by the Open Security Foundation.
"Businesses must do a better job of safeguarding personal and confidential consumer information -- last year alone, a data breach took place at the equivalent of more than one per day" said Jepsen. "With constant changes in technology, I will use the Office of the Attorney General to educate consumers and businesses about how they can protect themselves from being victimized by such thieves."
“I applaud Richard Blumenthal and his office for aggressively seeking justice for consumers in these instances but what bothers me the most is that security breaches like this have become commonplace. It seems every couple of months a company entrusted with personal information apologizes for the same problem and then everyone moves on like it didn’t happen. Telling people whose private information has been compromised that the company will ‘try harder next time’ is not sufficient. Consumers are entitled to the highest level of privacy protection, and if that privacy is violated, immediate notification is required.”
