Sea Mar Community Health Centers Provide Data Security Incident Notice

SEATTLE, October 29, 2021 / PRNewswire / – Sea Mar Community Health Centers (“Sea Mar”), a non-profit organization that provides health services to underserved communities in the state of Washington, has learned that a data security incident may have impacted data belonging to current and former Sea Mar patients. Sea Mar has sent notification of this incident to those potentially affected and provided resources to assist them .

At June 24, 2021, Sea Mar has been informed that some data from Sea Mar has been copied from its digital environment by an unauthorized actor. Upon receipt of this information, Sea Mar immediately took action to secure its environment and opened an investigation to determine what happened and to identify specific information that may have been affected. In doing so, Sea Mar engaged leading independent cybersecurity experts for assistance. As a result, Sea Mar has learned that additional data may have been copied from its digital environment between december 2020 and March 2021. Sea Mar then began to collect the necessary contact details to notify those potentially affected, which was done on August 30, 2021.

Sea Mar is not aware of any evidence of misuse of information potentially involved in this incident. However, from October 29, 2021, notice of this incident has been provided to those potentially affected. The notice that was provided included information about the incident and what steps potentially affected people can take to protect their information. Sea Mar also provided access to free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to people whose Social Security numbers may have been involved in the incident.

The following personal and protected health information may have been involved in the incident: name, address, social security number, date of birth, client identification number, medical / visual / dental / orthodontic diagnostic and treatment information , medical / vision / dental insurance information, claim information and / or images associated with dental treatment.

The privacy and protection of personal and protected health information is a top priority for Sea Mar, which deeply regrets any inconvenience or concerns this incident may cause. Sea Mar is working with cybersecurity experts to take action to prevent a similar incident from happening again in the future. Sea Mar has also set up a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident. Call center representatives are available Monday through Friday from 6:00 am – 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time and can be reached at 1-855-651-2684.

SOURCE Sea Mar Community Health Centers